A STORY  OF 

TWENTIETH  CENTURY  CHRISTIANITY. 


The  Road  to  Jericho. 


BY 

a 

C.  J.  A.  HOLMGREN,  A.  B.,  B.  D. 


“ Brethren  what  of  the  Night?  ” 


CONCORD,  N.  H. 

The  Forum  of  Conscience  and  Love. 
1909 

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Copyrighted,  1909,  by  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren. 


Rumforu  Printing  Company, 
Concord,  N.  H. 

1909 


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PREFACE. 


Among  the  chief  reasons  for  writing  this  book  and  placing  it  be- 
fore the  whole  body  of  ministers,  is  to  call  their  attention  to  the  fact 
that  as  the  indignation  of  righteousness,  the  fundamental  anxiety 
to  seize  upon  truth  and  justice  was  the  mainspring  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, so  there  is  still  an  irrepressible  cry  for  truth  and  purity  in  life 
and  the  Church.  Here,  in  the  United  States,  religion  is  commingled 
with  all  the  habits  of  the  nation  and  all  the  feelings  of  patriotism, 
so  that  here  religion,  so  far  as  its  vital  power  is  concerned,  is  indi- 
vidual and  not  a name  or  a creed,  but  purity  of  desire  and  deed, 
Christly  love  of  God  and  man ; religious  truth  being  every  man ’s 
property  and  right.  For  such  reasons,  we  find  that  the  American 
works  on  Moral  Science  are  strongly  espousing  the  maxim  brought 
forth  by  a former  president  of  Brown  University,  that  every  man  is 
so  created  as  instinctively  to  commit  to  the  community  of  his  fel- 
lowmen  the  protection  of  his  rights  and  the  redress  of  his  wrongs; 
and  his  fellowmen,  on  the  other  hand,  instinctively  assume  this  au- 
thority. 

Such  authority  and  power  must  exert  its  influence  even  against 
the  sins  and  errors  of  any  organized  society  violating  the  social  laws 
of  man.  Neither  can  we  wonder  at  that,  in  our  American  Ethics,  we 
are  strongly  reminded  of  that  our  Christian  religion  imposes  upon 
every  individual  subjection  to  the  civil  power,  as  a matter  of  moral 
duty,  on  the  ground  that  society  is  an  ordinance  of  God.  “Let 
every  soul  be  in  subjection  to  the  higher  powers:  for  there  is  no 
power  but  of  God ; and  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God.  There- 
fore he  that  resisteth  the  power,  withstandeth  the  ordinance  of  God. 
Wherefore,  ye  must  needs  be  in  subjection,  not  only  because  of  the 
wrath,  but  also  for  conscience’s  sake.” 

When,  therefore,  years  of  private  appeals  to  one,  or  two,  or  twenty 
men  of  any  organized  society,  are  futile,  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
society  as  a whole  to  secure  to  each  individual  the  enjoyment  of 
rights  already  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Creator;  each  individual 
also  having  the  right  to  exhibit  what  he  believes  to  be  the  truth,  and 
gain  as  many  converts  to  his  opinions  as  he  can.  At  this  juncture, 
we  read  in  the  Practical  Ethics  of  Dr.  Francis  Wayland : 


4 


“If  he  succeed  in  changing  the  opinions  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
they  will  agree  with  him.  If  he,  however,  is  unable  to  do  this,  and 
cannot  contend  by  force,  what  then  shall  he  do?  I see  no  other 
course  open  for  him  than  to  do  whatever  he  believes  to  be  right,  dis- 
passionately and  boldly,  and  suffer  the  consequences.  These  may  be 
suffering  even  to  martyrdom ; but  if  he  suffer  in  the  cause  of  right, 
he  may  in  this  manner  do  more  to  change  the  minds  of  men  than  by 
the  most  convincing  argument.  Persecution  is  apt  to  react  power- 
fully upon  the  persecutor.  Thus  it  was  said  in  early  days,  ‘ The  blood 
of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  church/  It  is  from  just  such 
martyrdoms  that  the  greatest  and  most  important  improvements  in 
society  have  originated.’’ 

In  submitting  this  work  to  the  judgment  of  “society,”  the  editor 
indulges  the  hope  that  the  hurried  efforts  and  labors  bestowed  upon 
it,  in  the  midst  of  anguish  and  persecutions,  may  answer  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  is  intended. 

C.  J.  A.  H. 

Concord,  N.  H.,  March,  1909. 


If  obedience  to  the  will  of  God  be  necessary  to  happiness,  and  knowledge 
of  his  will  necessary  to  obedience,  I know  not  how  he  that  withholds  this 
knowledge,  or  delays  it,  can  be  said  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself.  He  that 
voluntarily  continues  in  ignorance  is  guilty  of  all  the  crimes  which  that  ig- 
norance produces;  as  to  him  that  should  extinguish  the  tapers  of  a lighthouse 
might  be  justly  imputed  the  calamities  of  shipwrecks.  Christianity  is  the 
highest  perfection  of  humanity;  and  as  no  man  is  good  but  as  he  wishes  the 
good  of  others,  no  man  can  be  good  in  the  highest  degree  who  wishes  not  to 
others  the  largest  measure  of  the  greatest  good. 

Dr.  Johnson. 


We  see  then  that  in  so  far  as  wicked  men  are  by  their  wickedness  miserable, 
benevolence  renders  it  our  duty  to  reclaim  them.  And  to  such  benevolence 
the  highest  rewards  are  promised.  “They  that  turn  many  to  righteousness 
shall  shine  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever.”  But  this  is  not  all.  If  we  love 
our  Father  in  Heaven,  it  must  pain  us  to  see  His  children  violating  His  just 
and  holy  laws,  abusing  His  goodness,  rendering  not  only  themselves,  but  also 
His  other  children  miserable,  and  exposing  themselves  and  others  to  His 
eternal  displeasure.  The  love  of  God  would  prompt  us  to  check  these  evils, 
and  to  teach  our  brethren  to  serve  and  love  and  reverence  our  common 
Father,  and  to  become  his  obedient  children,  both  now  and  forever. 

The  more  hateful  to  us  is  the  conduct  of  those  whom  we  love,  the  more 
zealous  will  be  our  endeavors  to  bring  them  back  to  virtue.  ...  It 
would  be  easy  to  show  that  the  improvement  of  the  moral  character  of  our 
fellowmen  is  also  the  surest  method  of  promoting  their  physical,  intellectual 
and  social  happiness. 


Dr.  Wayland. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/storyoftwentiethOOholm 


THE  ROAD  TO  JERICHO 


CHAPTER  I. 

I am  a voice  of  that  life  where  darkness  and  terror  reign.  I am  the  despair- 
ing cry  of  those  who  remain  below  and  who  have  sent  me  to  herald  their 
pain.  They  also  long  to  rise  to  self-respect,  to  light  and  freedom. 

Gorky. 


The  Arena. 

In  The  Arena,  with  reference  to  the  blacklisting-slavery  of  our 
days,  Mr.  W.  J.  Strong,  counsel  for  F.  R.  Ketcham,  who  obtained  a 
verdict  for  $21,666.33  against  the  C.  & N.  W.  R.  R.  Co.,  asserts : 

If  a man  who  quits  the  employ  of  another  can  not  get  work  in  his  occu- 
pation without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of  his  former  employer  he  becomes 
a slave.  He  will  not  dare  to  resist  any  oppression  his  employer  may  see  fit 
to  impose  upon  him.  His  wages  may  be  cut  to  the  starvation  point.  He  may 
be  called  upon  to  work  extra  hours,  yet  he  dares  not  complain,  and  he  knows 
that  he  can  not  leave  and  get  employment  elsewhere.  If  he  protests,  his 
employer  will  say:  “Very  well,  if  you  don’t  like  it  you  can  quit.”  The  man 
having  a wife  and  children  to  support  will  bow  in  submission,  knowing  that 
his  master  has  him  in  his  power  and  that  he  cannot  leave  and  get  employ- 
ment elsewhere  without  the  consent  of  his  employer.  This  is  slavery  pure 
and  simple.  This  blacklisting  system  is  also  being  adopted  in  nearly  all 
branches  of  corporate  employment.  It  is  one  of  the  growing  evils  of  the  pres- 
ent era  of  combinations  and  trusts,  menacing  the  liberty  of  a large  class  of 
our  citizens.  How  long  will  it  be  before  the  laboring  masses  of  the  country, 
having  become  the  helpless  tools  of  these  mighty  masters,  will  do  their  bid- 
ding in  the  elective  franchise?  We  shall  then  have  a government  of  corpora- 
tions, by  corporations,  and  for  corporations.  The  wage-earner  who  feels  his 
little  children  tug  at  his  coat-tails  for  bread  will  fear  to  assert  his  manhood 
and  resist  oppression.  Can  a republic  made  up  of  such  citizens  long  endure? 
Blacklisting  is  the  chief  agency  in  fostering  anarchy.  It  destroys  manhood 
in  citizens  and  makes  them  slaves.  There  must  be  a change.  The  love  of 
liberty  is  too  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  Americans  long  to  tolerate  this 
dangerous  abuse.  It  is  particularly  against  public  policy  because  when  men 
cannot  find  work  they  become  public  charges,  if  not  criminals. 

The  American  Magazine. 

In  the  September  number  of  the  American  Magazine,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  reasons  for  the  falling  off  in  number  of  students  for  the 
ministry,  a Western  minister  affirms : 


8 


Occasionally  a superintendent  is  of  narrow  calibre,  autocratic,  abusing  the 
authority  entrusted  him.  Whom  he  will  he  puts  forward,  whom  he  dislikes 
he  puts  down  and  out.  Not  only  does  he  hold  absolute  sway  in  his  own 
state,  but  a postal  to  another  superintendent  can  prevent  any  blacklisted  man 
from  getting  a charge  or  hearing  in  that  state.  Many  good  men  have  thus 
been  driven  out  of  the  ministry.  Great  good  may  result  from  an  earnest 
minister’s  work,  but  he  will  pay  dearly  for  his  fidelity  to  duty.  The  powers 
that  be  may  blacklist  him  as  an  unsafe  man.  Many  of  his  fellow  ministers, 
who  never  raised  a disturbance  or  anything  else  worth  mentioning,  will 
“knock”  him  and  look  at  him  out  of  the  corner  of  their  eyes  half  in  pity, 
half  in  blame.  The  startling  decline  in  the  number  of  students  for  the  min- 
istry is  causing  alarm  in  all  branches  of  the  church.  Statistics  show  that 
of  American  farmers,  90  per  cent,  come  from  farmers’  families ; of  lawyers, 
40;  doctors,  30;  bankers,  42;  ministers,  only  8 per  cent. 


Decoration  Day. 

Forsooth,  this  is  not  the  first  time  “the  Church,”  wearing  the  name 
of  Jesus,  is  making  a poor  estimate  of  the  rights  of  man.  On  Deco- 
ration Day  our  heart  bows  down  in  grief  over  the  silent  forms  of 
300,000  men,  concerning  whose  sufferings  and  dyings,  it  is  deplor- 
ably alleged: 

Especially  should  the  pulpit  and  the  Church  scatter  flowers  on  the  graves 
of  the  Union  dead,  for  these  awful  battles  and  this  awful  carnage  were 
planned  by  the  blindness  and  weakness  of  religion.  The  pulpit  was  too  weak 
or  ignorant  to  oppose  slavery  in  its  beginning. 

As  when  the  sanctuary  is  the  tutelary  saint  and  an  amicus  usque 
ad  astra  of  a heinous  wrong,  the  sword  and  the  battlefield  must  come, 
the  church  is  told  on  Decoration  Day  to  bless  the  soldiers  for  having 
by  their  blood  atoned  for  the  cowardice  of  the  sanctuary,  why,  then, 
should  not  the  still  available  printing  press  be  commissioned  to  affix 
the  wholesome  gaze  of  publicity  on  the  doings  of  scribes,  trans- 
forming the  20th  century  church  into  an  institution  for  merely  in- 
creasing their  own  market  value,  etc.,  grievously  deadening  the  in- 
fluence of  religion  as  a champion  of  civilization?  For  even  here, 
Wendell  Phillips’  assertion  is  true,  that  only  by  continual  oversight 
can  the  Democrat  in  office,  the  hand  entrusted  with  power,  be  pre- 
vented from  hardening  into  a despot. 

In  the  history  of  England  we  read  that  in  1807  the  gaslight  was 
tried  in  London,  “and  soon  the  cheerful  blaze  chased  away  forever 
the  tumultuous  vagabonds  who  were  wont,  in  the  darkness,  to  insult, 
to  plunder,  and  to  kill.”  So,  in  another  sense,  already  in  the  twi- 
light of  the  15tli  century  was  dawning  the  great  invention  that  was 
to  be  so  fatal  to  the  dominion  of  the  priestly  bigot,  and  so  efficient 


9 


for  breaking  up  separate  centers  of  intrigues,  etc. ; the  press,  to  our 
best  knowledge,  being  the  means  by  which,  in  the  figurative  speech 
of  the  millennium,  the  worker  of  iniquity  is  to  be  cowed,  so  that, 
under  the  Argus  eyes  of  publicity,  the  coarse-grained  Cain  and  the 
fine-grained  Abel  decently  may  live  and  dwell  together. 

And  as  it  is  becoming  an  established  fact,  that,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  good  Samaritan  mentioned  in  the  Scripture,  by  nature  some  indi- 
viduals are  of  a benevolent  and  scrupulous  disposition,  while  others 
are  disposed  to  be  regardless  of  the  welfare  of  others,  just  as  there 
are  mild,  good-natured  horses,  while  others  are  ill-natured;  and  as 
the  Spirit,  the  powerful  restraint,  may  be  withdrawn  from  any  indi- 
vidual, even  ministers  of  less  goodness  of  nature,  why,  then,  should 
not,  as  for  instance  a Monitor  was  built  to  turn  the  tide  in  our  Civil 
War,  an  expedient  bureau  and  publication  be  established  to  turn  the 
tide  in  our  present  social  skirmishes  preceding  the  coming  national 
crisis,  such  use  of  the  printing  craft  to  be  governed  by  the  maxim  : 

Let  us  raise  the  fallen  wherever  we  can,  but  without  forgetting  to  protect 
those  who  are  adapted  to  support  others  in  return.  Let  us  help  the  helpers 
first.  They  are  of  the  greatest  value  in  the  economy  of  the  social  world. 
Let  us  foster  genius,  especially  the  genius  for  doing  good. 

The  Skeleton  in  the  Closet. 

Chesterton,  one  of  the  best  known  and  popular  critics  of  England, 
alleges  that  in  the  world,  as  it  is  today,  it  is  obvious  and  beyond  all 
discussion,  that  success  goes  not  with  merit,  and  that  those  triumph 
who  ought  not  to  triumph. 

Experto  crede,  what  has  been  the  line  of  action  in  regard  to  the 
ever-hopeful  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  people  ever  struggling,  Rev. 
E.  A.  Fogelstrom  of  the  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  ? When  weighed 
down  with  overwork,  “unduly  laid  upon  him,”  this  warm-hearted 
founder  of  the  Immanuel  Deaconess  Institute  and  Hospital  of  Omaha, 
Neb.,  had  retreated  to  Thorsby,  Ala.,  to  recuperate,  did  not  two  men, 
one  of  whom  became,  and  still  is,  his  successor  as  to  office  and  stand- 
ing, on  an  ostensibly  friendly  visit,  induce  him  away  from  his  wife ; 
afterwards  persuading  her,  and  causing  to  be  published  that  he  was 
incurably  insane,  “in  a mild  form.” 

Was  an  up-to-date,  impartial  investigation  as  to  his  real  condition 
and  needs  conceded  to  him?  Nay,  were  the  doors  to  his  own  so  be- 
loved hospital  and  institution  kept  ajar  to  its  noble-spirited  founder? 
Or,  unconcerned  to  his  high  order  of  sentiment  and  intensity  of  feel- 
ing, did  not  self-opinioned  individuals,  lacking  the  more  delicate  shad- 


10 


ings  of  sensibility  Fogelstrom,  as  a genius,  possesses,  exercise  ex- 
clusive discretion  over  this  whole-souled  meek  Christian  brother,  to 
deliver  him  unsuspectingly  to  a rival  institution,  and  into  the  hands 
of  a Church  against  whom  the  Lutherans  are  constantly  militating, 
and  in  regard  to  which,  from  his  childhood  days,  he  has  listened  to 
stories  enough  to  make  one’s  flesh  creep?  When  subsequently  he 
succeeded  in  escaping  from  this  to  him  vexatious  asylum,  was  he  not 
then  subjected  to  be  examined  by  a physician  who,  on  account  of  age 
and  debility,  by  Fogelstrom  had  been  removed  from  the  staff  of  con- 
sulting physicians  of  the  hospital  Fogelstrom  presided  over;  and  by 
the  aid  of  this  jilted  physician  having  locked  him  up  in  the  state 
asylum  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  was  not  the  Douglas  County  Court,  without 
even  seeing  the  man,  called  upon  to  declare  him  insane,  though  he 
had  never  been  examined  by  a regular  insanity  board?  And  this, 
though  a physician  states,  that  if  he  were  unscrupulous  enough  to 
want  to  get  rid  of  his  wife,  he  could  lock  her  up  in  an  asylum,  merely 
by  asking  some  “ broke”  member  of  the  staff  of  his  town  to  testify 
to  her  dementia,  which  he  can  claim  is  not  so  readily  fathomed  by 
any  one  but  himself,  who  has  a more  intimate  knowledge  as  to  her 
strange  acts;  he  at  the  same  time  promising  to  do  his  “broke”  brother 
a turn  at  some  other  time. 

In  advocating  more  rigid  laws  to  govern  commitment  to  State 
Hospitals,  Dr.  E.  0.  Crossman,  the  chairman  of  the  standing  commit- 
tee on  the  insane  of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  asserts : 

Certainly  any  person  who  is  suspected  of  being  insane  is  entitled  to  a thor- 
ough medical  examination  by  the  best  physician  in  the  vicinity,  who  has 
standing,  character  and  professional  knowledge  of  insanity  satisfactory  to 
the  judge  of  probate  or  a judge  of  the  Superior  or  Supreme  Court  of  New 
Hampshire.  ...  A full  statement  should  be  made  regarding  the  pa- 
tient’s physical  and  mental  condition,  together  with  a history  of  any  prior 
disease  or  injury,  also  a report  of  what  the  patient  said  and  did  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  medical  examiners. 

The  superintendent  of  the  state  hospital  should  within  two  days  after 
the  admission  or  commitment  of  an  insane  person  send  notice  of  said  com- 
mitment by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  each  of  said  relatives  not  exceeding  five, 
and  to  any  other  person  whom  the  person  committed  shall  designate. 

Such  and  other  things  are  in  accord  with  the  commitment  laws  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York  and  are  none  too  rigid. 

* ‘ In  Perils  among  False  Brethren.  ’ ’ 

Recently  released  from  his  “prisons,”  and  broken  down  from  such 
tantalizing  experiences,  enough  to  frighten  a man  out  of  his  senses, 
and  at  present  appealing  to  the  Synod  for  an  impartial  investiga- 


11 


tion  and  redress,  was  Fogelstrom,  at  the  Synod ’s  meeting  last  summer, 
met  with  the  consideration  it  behooves  disciples  of  Christ  to  mani- 
fest? Or,  was  his  imprisonment,  as  he  claims,  merely  a move  to 
give  the  “kidnapper,”  his  successor,  the  president  of  the  Nebraska 
Conference,  the  office  and  the  place  or  home  Fogelstrom  had  founded 
and  loved  so  intensely?  And,  if  so,  why  can  not  everything  be  set- 
tled in  a brotherly  spirit  and  with  due  regard  for  the  wronged  man’s 
feelings  or  deep  sense  ? 

Withal,  is  not  the  heartrending  appeals  in  his  printed  circular, 
“In  Perils  among  False  Brethren,”  met  with  disheartening  contempt, 
a circular  evidently  printed  after  the  pattern  of  my  own  round  rob- 
ins? Now,  if  the  Church  were  to  throw  into  the  insane  asylums 
those  who  excel  in  the  higher  and  finer  manifestations  of  humanity, 
and  those  who  are  merely  oversensitive  and  nervous  from  overwork, 
what  would  then  become  of  our  great  improvements,  and  of  the  higher 
manifestations  of  humanity?  All  honor  to  the  dark-skinned  people 
of  the  coarse-grained  virile  texture ; they  are  needed.  Yet,  we  need 
also  purity  and  goodness  in  its  more  delicate  shadings,  though  so 
often  abused  and  misunderstood  by  the  strong  characters  of  the 
coarse-grained  type. 

Are  we  forgetful  of  that  he  who  does  injustice  must  make  right — 
here  or  hereafter?  “There  being  a law  that  follows  him,  and  seizes 
him  at  last  and  thrusts  him  into  prison,  where  the  uttermost  farthing 
must  be  paid.  This  is  true,  or  there  is  no  balance  in  the  universe.” 

Unbiased  Testimonies. 

That  Fogelstrom  was  in  possession  of  his  faculties  at  the  time  he 
was  induced  away  from  his  wife  is  beyond  a doubt  from  the  many 
testimonies  rendered  by  unbiased  parties  such  as  Messrs.  Ames  Alt- 
man, J.  F.  Peterson,  etc.  Nay,  the  well-known  founder  of  Thorsby, 
Mr.  T.  T.  Thorson,  testifies  as  follows : 

Thorsby,  Ala.,  Janaury  20,  1908. 

To  all  it  may  concern: 

This  will  certify  that  I have  been  well  acquainted  with  Rev.  E.  A.  Fogel- 
strom the  last  twenty  or  more  years,  during  which  time  I have  had  a great 
deal  of  important  business  transactions  with  him.  These  started  when  we  to- 
gether laid  the  foundation  of  the  now  prosperous  settlement  of  Wausa,  Neb.,  and 
then  I first  gained  my  confidence  in  his  ability.  More  complete  plans,  as  years 
and  experience  have  provided,  were  prepared  together  with  him  for  the  benefit 
of  our  Lutheran  Church  just  at  the  time  Fogelstrom  was  so  suddenly  induced 
away  from  Thorsby,  April  21,  1906  (by  two  men),  and  our  project  interfered 
with.  All  the  time  I have  been  acquainted  with  Fogelstrom  I have  found  him 


12 


to  be  possessed  of  sound  mind  and  common  sense.  His  useful  plans  should 
have  all  encouragement,  as  they  are  valuable  and  he  is  able  to  complete  them 
if  not  interfered  with.  It  has  been  proven  so  many  things  have  been  done 
by  him  that  seemingly  were  impossible  for  even  the  most  favored  men.  He 
has  conceived  many  useful  things  for  the  Church  and  the  people,  and  at  the 
same  time  sacrificed  a great  deal  for  himself.  I have  always  found  Fogel- 
strom  faithful  and  a true  servant  of  the  Church.  lie  is  gifted  with  a won- 
derful foresight  and  has  a powerful  enthusiasm  so  far  above  the  average  man 
that  they  cannot  grasp  the  first  part  of  his  deep  and  far-reaching  plans. 
He  is  one  of  the  greatest  promoters.  I have  not  found  his  equal.  He  is  con- 
tinually straining  himself  in  order  to  do  the  most  good  for  his  people. 

Respectfully, 

T.  Thorsox. 

This  letter  from  Mr.  Thorson  cannot  but  remind  us  of  how  Rob- 
ert Fulton,  on  account  of  his  steamboat  ideas,  was  mocked:  “Poor 
fellow,  what  a pity  he  is  crazy!”  The  above  closing  remark,  that 
Fogelstrom  is  straining  himself  to  do  the  most  good  for  others,  is 
also  strikingly  verified  by,  for  instance,  the  circumstance  that  when 
my  third  supplement  to  “A  Battle  for  Life”  was  sent  to  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Synod,  he  was  the  very  first  to  assuage  and  comfort,  in  the 
following  letter: 

Wahoo,  Neb.,  November  14,  1908. 

By  dear  Brother  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren: 

The  peace  of  Christ  in  all  your  anguish! 

Yesterday,  I received  and  read  your  circular  with  reference  to  your  suffer- 
ings. Though  at  present  unable  to  render  any  assistance,  I will  nevertheless 
write  and  remind  you  of  I Peter  4 : 12-19.  And  let  me  tell  you  this  is  noth- 
ing strange  in  our  days  of  apostasy.  I have  for  thirty-five  years  faithfully 
and  incessantly  labored,  so  that  through  my  efforts,  under  God,  the  Nebraska 
Conference  now  owns  $250,000  in  real  estate;  and  it  cannot  be  but  a most 
bitter  infliction  to  be  subjected  to  such  persecutions  as  my  printed  pamphlet 
discloses.  But  such  things  happen  nowadays  in  the  Augustana  Synod,  all  be- 
cause of  the  royal  Swedish  envy.  Our  poor  Synod  is  indeed  apostatized. 

As  to  the  straits  in  the  New  York  Conference,  I can  certainly  sympathize 
with  you;  and  I know  that  many  of  its  missionaries  have  had  a hard  struggle 
to  get  their  small  salaries  in  time. 

Being  now  unable  to  sufficiently  provide  for  myself,  I deplore  my  incapacity 
to  render  you  and  others  the  aid  that  would  otherwise  be  forthcoming.  Are 
we  to  get  our  rights,  it  must  be  prayed  for.  and  down  upon,  us.  Should  I 
succeed  in  this,  in  behalf  of  myself  and  family,  then  it  may  be  possible  for 
me  to  do  something  for  you  and  other  brethren  in  distress.  Having  lost 
$10,000  on  the  Deaconess  Institution  of  Omaha,  and  being  involved  in  debts, 
nay,  without  a home  of  my  own,  my  first  duty  is  to  endeavor  to  retrieve  from 
my  own  losses  and  injuries  sustained. 

Having  for  thirty-five  years  as  faithfully  as  auy  one  served  the  Synod,  it 
is  heartrending  to  bear  with  what  is  referred  to  on  pages  150-152  of  the  last 
synodical  records,  all  on  account  of  the  influences  exerted  by  the  puppet  popes 


13 


in  the  Advisory  Board  of  the  Synod.  What  a shocking  wrong  and  injustice! 
God  is  certainly  aware  of  the  many  injustices  I and  others  have  had  to  sub- 
mit to  during  the  past  thirty  years.  If  repentance  and  confession  of  sins  and 
forgiveness  do  not  intervene  such  will  cause  more  ill  turns  than  they  are 
willing  to  believe.  God  help  us  all  and  His  wounded  Church  in  these  and 
the  coming  days  of  anti-Christ!  This  the  supplications  of  your  poor  fellow- 
sufferer.  Though  it  is  bitter  to  be  wronged,  such  is,  however,  better  than  to 
commit  the  wrong,  a truth  I am  often  repeating  to  myself.  Leaving  to  you 
as  golden  text  Rev.  3:10-11,  I am  yours  fraternally, 

E.  A.  Fogelstrom. 

The  Express  Law  of  God. 

Though  Fogelstrom  had  just  written  and  published  a splendid  ar- 
ticle on  Prayer,  and  though,  for  instance,  during  his  first  Sunday  at 
the  State  Asylum  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  he  was  permitted  to  go  out  and 
preach  the  sermon  in  the  Augustana  Synod  church  of  that  city,  and 
just  as  this  little  book  or  pamphlet  was  to  be  printed,  a loving  let- 
ter came  from  one  of  the  recently  ordained  uninitiated  ministers,  as- 
serting: “This  Fogelstrom  is  clearly  not  accountable  for  his  actions 
and  doings;  and  cannot  be  taken  into  consideration.” 

The  word  “clearly”  may,  of  course,  have  reference  to  the  circum- 
stance that  prevailed  upon  by  the  unexpected  appearance  of  my 
previous  circulars,  or  affronted  by  the  circumstance  that  Fogel- 
strom’s  labors  cannot  be  overlooked  because  of  the  $250,000  of  real 
estate  he  has  procured  for  the  Conference,  the  ministerial  bosses  have 
advised  the  Synod  to  allow  him  $1,200  a year. 

Nevertheless,  his  own  statements  in  the  printed  round  robin,  “In 
Perils  among  False  Brethren,”  do  not  only  bring  to  view  that  he  is 
a heavy  loser  of  property,  etc.,  but  that  the  way  in  which  he  has 
been  evicted  and  handled  is  deleterious  to  the  future  welfare  of  the 
Synod  and  its  labors  among  the  newcomers  to  our  shores,  and  re- 
quires another  adjustment  and  reconciliation  than  that,  for  instance, 
at  its  last  meeting  the  Synod  still  leaves  the  man  under  the  contin- 
uous discretion  of  the  ones  he  is  appealing  against,  and  whom  he 
calls  his  kidnappers;  the  Synod  even  deciding  that  if  the  directors 
of  the  institution,  built  by  Fogelstrom,  see  fit  to  place  the  man  under 
a guardian,  they  have  a right  to  do  so.  But,  even  if  the  Synod  con- 
siders Rev.  Lindberg,  the  successor  of  Fogelstrom,  a holy,  sinless 
man,  Fogelstrom,  nevertheless,  considers  this  president  of  the  insti- 
tute to  be  deficient  in  the  organ  of  conscientiousness,  and  for  such 
reasons  the  mind,  the  nerves,  of  Fogelstrom  must  be  harrowed  by  the 
thought  that  he  is  hopelessly  in  the  very  claws  of  his  enemy,  against 
whom  he  has  appealed  to  the  brethren  for  protection.  If,  therefore, 


14 


his  mind  should  have  weakened  on  account  of  the  previous  experi- 
ences, how  could  the  brethren  expect  that  this  man  should  improve 
under  such  cruel  conditions? 

Withal,  should  we  judge  from  Fogelstrom’s  message  of  whole- 
souled  sympathy,  love,  sanity  and  purity,  and  should  the  author,  of 
this,  judge  from  his  own  experiences  made  in  the  past,  this  word, 
clearly  tallies  with  the  word  express,  when  in  1743  the  Church  of 
Scotland  solemnly  declared  that  “the  penal  statutes  against  witches 
has  been  repealed  by  the  Parliament  contrary  to  the  ‘express’  law  of 
God. 9 1 It  being  due  to  the  great  lawyers  of  that  time  the  credit  of  first 
stemming  the  foul  torrent,  it  is,  indeed,  singular  that  the  constitution 
of  the  Augustana  Synod  debars  a lawyer  from  partaking  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  nature,  while  the  Synod’s  advisory  board  seems  to  be 
powerful  enough  to  grant  a clique  of  chums  full  liberty  to  deal  with  a 
brother  in  the  same  style  as  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland  was  in  the 
habit  of  granting  commissions  to  resident  gentlemen  and  ministers  to 
examine,  and  afterwards  to  try  and  execute,  witches  all  over  the  land ; 
multitudes  being  burnt  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  under  these  com- 
missions, and  under  a regime  in  which  the  printing  press  and  the  re- 
vival of  letters  had  not  advanced  far  enough  in  influence  so  as  to 
clear  away  the  bulk  of  barbarous  superstructures  which  had  been 
raised  on  the  foundation  of  the  Gospel. 


CHAPTER  II. 


I am  become  foolish  in  glorying.  Ye  have  compelled  me,  for  I ought  to 
have  been  commended  by  you,  for  in  nothing  was  I behind  the  very  chief- 
est  of  apostles,  though  I am  nothing. 

St.  Paul. 


To  Your  Tents,  0 Israel! 

If,  according  to  liis  printed  round  robin,  4 ‘In  Perils  among  False 
Brethren,”  this  genial  man  of  prayer  is  thus  ignominiously  treated 
or  victimized  and  handled  out  of  tune  with  his  sensibility  and  purity 
of  character,  what  a manifestation  as  to  the  ‘ ‘ Church  ’ ’ making  a poor 
estimate  of  the  rights  of  man! 

In  juxtaposition  to  this  “skeleton”  in  the  closet,  our  present  intro- 
spection merges  intrinsically  into  exploitations  as  to  what  flag  the  20th 
century  church  unfurls,  when  prevailed  upon  to  amend  with  reference 
to  individuals  having  not  concentrated  time  and  energies  on  a single 
large  institution  capable  of  depriving  coarse-grained  antagonists  of 
their  chances  of  entirely  depreciating  and  disparaging;  it  being,  as 
a matter  of  course,  comparatively  easy  to  set  at  naught  those  whose 
strenuous  labors,  and  the  results  thereof,  can  not  be  taken  in  at  one 
single  glance. 

Thirty  years  ago,  the  author  of  this  treatise  was  commissioned  by 
his  father  to  go  to  America  to  pursue  and  finish  the  preparations  for 
becoming  an  expert  mechanical  engineer.  The  groans  of  suffering 
mankind  finally  induced  him  to  make  America  his  home,  and  to  aid 
its  citizens  in  rallying  its  friends  and  opposing  its  enemies. 

Not  satisfied  with  patching  up  a few  holes  rent  by  the  brute  in 
man,  he  wished  to  strike  at  the  very  root  of  the  evil,  and  to  follow 
Gladstone’s  hint:  “My  only  hope  for  the  world  is  bringing  the  hu- 
man mind  in  contact  with  Divine  revelation.” 

To  this  end,  in  1887,  he  was  finally  induced  to  enter  the  college 
and  seminary  of  the  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  at  Rock  Island,  111., 
to  prepare  for  entering  the  ministry. 

The  Lion  and  the  Mouse. 

Having  graduated  from  this  institute  of  learning  and  having  faith- 
fully and  successfuly  labored  as  pastor  in  the  service  of  the  Synod,  he, 
too,  finds  himself  at  last  succumbing  as  the  victim  of  ministerial  con- 


16 


spirators  and  blacklisted  in  a plot  to  ruin  him.  to  get  him  out  of  the 
wajr,  these  enemies  working  in  the  dark;  the  world  being  also  ever 
prompt  to  believe  ill  rather  than  good  of  a man.  And  though  the 
author  of  this  is  innocent  of  the  charge  of  insanity  and  of  undue 
lack  of  tact  brought  against  him,  the  bosses  of  the  sanctuary,  the  San- 
hedrim, consider  it  necessary  to  put  him  in  the  public  pillory,  to  set 
him  up  as  a warning  to  others  of  my  class  not  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  truth  and  justice,  and  not  to  rely  on  that  suc- 
cess goes  with  merit. 

As  in  the  story  “The  Lion  and  the  Mouse”  it  is  said  of  John  Ryder, 
the  millionaire,  so  it  may  be  justly  said  of  these  ecclesiastical  leaders  : 

John  Ryder  had  not  been  equipped  by  nature  with  a conscience.  He  had 
no  sense  of  right,  or  wrong,  or  justice  where  his  own  interests  were  concerned. 
He  was  the  prince  of  egoists.  On  the  other  hand,  he  possesses  qualities 
which,  with  some  people,  count  as  virtues.  He  was  pious  and  regular  in  his 
attendance  at  church,  and,  while  he  had  done  but  little  for  charity,  he  was 
known  to  have  encouraged  the  giving  of  alms  by  the  members  of,  etc. 

With  Judge  Rossmore’s  daughter,  in  this  same  play,  we  may  here 
repeat : 

In  the  barbaric  ages  they  fought  for  possession,  but  they  fought  openly. 
The  feudal  barons  fought  for  what  they  stole,  but  it  was  a fair  fight.  They 
didn’t  strike  in  the  dark.  At  least  they  gave  a man  a chance  for  his  life. 
But  when  you  modern  barons  don’t  like  legislation  you  destroy  it.  When  a 
competitor  outbids  you  you  squeeze  him  out  of  existence.  You  have  no 
hearts;  you  are  machines,  and  you  are  cowards,  for  you  fight  unfairly. 

But,  to  use  the  words  in  the  same  story,  “Can  such  things  be  in  a 
civilized  country  ? Cannot  they  be  exposed?  Won’t  the  press,  take 
the  matter  up ? Cannot  we  show  conspiracy ? ” “It  sounds  easy, 
but  it  isn’t.  I have  had  a heap  of  experience  with  the  law,  my  child, 
and  I know  what  I am  talking  about.  They’re  too  clever  to  be  caught 
tripping.  They ’ve  covered  up  their  tracks  well ; be  sure  of  that.  As 
to  the  newspapers — when  did  you  ever  hear  of  them  championing  a 
man  when  he ’s  down  ? ’ ’ 

Though  certain  newspapers  know  too  well  what  kind  of  leaders 
there  are  in  the  church,  where,  for  instance,  hegemonical  blacklisters 
are  influential  enough  to  exempt  a deacon  or  paramount  parish 
leader  from  the  common  preliminary  studies,  and  lift  him  into  the 
ministry  and  a fat  charge  merely  as  recompensation  for  having  sided 
with  the  wrong  side,  regardless  of  the  sufferings  of  their  victims,  they 
would  not  give  a downtrodden  victim  or  “witch”  a chance  to  reveal 
that  in  every  case  where  the  people  are  not  hoodwinked  or  subjected 
to  intimidations  and  threats,  such  witch  would  be  awarded  eommenda- 


17 


tions  tallying  with  the  one  rendered  the  author  years  ago  while 
laboring  at  Mt.  Jewett,  Pa.: 

Here  in  Mt.  Jewett  the  Augustana  Synod  is  represented  by  a large  and 
flourishing  congregation,  and  the  eloquent  pastor  has  proven  himself  to  be  a 
most  successful  man  in  this  field,  and  finds  his  services  attended  by  people  far 
and  near. 

Here  is  another  one  from  Gardner,  Mass.,  July,  1908 : 

(Extract  from  the  Swedish  New  England  Weekly,  SJcandinavia.) 

Last  Sunday,  as  a thunderbolt  from  a clear  sky,  the  news  spread  around 
Gardner  that  Pastor  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren  had  handed  in  his  resignation.  At 
evening  services  the  church  was  filled  with  people,  when  Rev.  Holmgren  de- 
livered a touching  farewell  sermon.  He  had  chosen  as  his  text  the  words  of 
Jesus,  “Lo,  I am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.”  Soul- 
stirring were  the  words,  and  tears  were  visible  in  the  eyes  of  both  sides,  the 
pastor  and  the  congregation.  Nay,  it  came  so  unexpected,  and  in  these 
eleven  months  Rev.  Holmgren  has  occupied  the  pulpit  on  Sundays  he  has 
made  himself  exceedingly  loved.  The  wish  was  entertained  to  have  the  be- 
loved pastor  move  to  Gardner,  and  we  are  convinced  that  he  would  have  liked 
to  come.  But  we  think  that  the  straitened  circumstances  into  which  he  has 
been  led,  and  perhaps  other  causes  we  do  not  know  of,  have  driven  him  to 
take  such  a step,  as  we  know  for  sure  that  Rev.  Holmgren  loved  our  congre- 
gation, our  town  and  people.  Whatever  it  has  been  that  forced  Pastor  Holm- 
gren to  such  decision,  we  deeply  deplore  it,  and  we  are  sorry  for  those  who 
are  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  As  an  excellent  preacher  and  splendid  orator,  he 
always  had  a good  audience,  and  if  he  had  come  to  this  place  and  been  af- 
forded an  opportunity  to  labor  among  us  our  future  would  certainly  have  been 
a bright  one.  And  that  the  people  and  the  congregation  are  perturbed  is  the 
most  moderate  expression  that  can  be  used;  and  what  steps  the  congregation 
will  take  at  the  meeting  to  be  held  at  7.30  p.  m.  on  Tuesday,  July  28,  is  hard 
to  tell.  At  all  events,  the  correspondent  extends  his  hearty  thanks  to  Pas- 
tor Holmgren  for  all  his  good  will  he  has  shown  towards  us  here  in  Gardner. 
Perchance  it  may  be  arranged  so  that,  after  all,  we  may  secure  him  for  our 
place.  If  not,  we  all  join  in  extending  our  thanks  to  Rev.  Holmgren  for 
faithful  watch  and  service.  And  do  never  forget  that  here  in  Gardner  you 
have  hundreds  of  people  who  wish  you  success. 

A few  of  such  testimonials  of  the  character  of  my  labors  are  al- 
ready printed  in  some  of  the  previous  circulars  mailed  to  the  whole 
body  of  nearly  600  ministers  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  testimonials 
not  only  bearing  by-plays  to  the  fact  that  even  what  Christ  did  found 
no  favor  with  the  Pharisees  and  self-conceited,  while  the  poor  and 
those  in  distress  had  no  complaints  whatever  to  bring  forth  against 
their  friend,  but  that,  for  instance  in  Minnesota,  where  the  prere- 
quisites needed  to  fill  a clergyman’s  calling  were  granted,  and  after 


18 


five  years’  service  in  that  state,  the  testimonials  conceded  from  that 
field  of  labor  were  such  that  Rev.  Sjolinder  of  Tracy,  Minn.,  writes: 

From  the  testimonials  awarded,  it  is  manifest  that  your  services  here  were 
irreproachable,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  and  the  congregation,  so 
that,  in  contradistinction  to  all  rumors  whatever,  you  are  in  possession  of 
splendid  testimonials  from  here.  I trust  that  these  will  be  of  service  to  you  in 
your  afflictions  and  distress. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Many  good  works  have  I shewed  you  from  the  Father.  For  which  of  those 
do  ye  stone  me? — Jesus  Christ. 

The  Origin  of  the  First  Circulars. 

Having  already-,  since  1900,  appealed  to  the  ministerial  bosses  for 
a human  treatment,  gradually  I became  aware  that  private  appeals 
were  slighted,  the  doors  of  the  Synod’s  official  paper  also  being  shut 
to  an  inevitable  investigation.  By  the  aid  of  relatives  and  friends  I 
therefore  started  to  print  my  first  circular,  “For  a Worthy  Cause,” 
dated  September  1,  1906,  and  forwarded  it  to  the  parties  more  di- 
rectly concerned,  in  order  to  suasively  undertake  a clement  embryonic 
research  as  to  the  statement  of  Dr.  G.  Nelsenius,  the  president  of  the 
New  York  Conference,  averring  me  to  be  without  a single  friend  in 
the  ministry,  he  also  stating: 

You  know,  Holmgren,  that  I cannot  do  anything  for  you,  as  you  have 
against  you  all  the  conference  officials  from  the  time  you  served  at  Newport. 

Withal,  in  spite  of  all  my  entreaties,  all  these  years  I have  been 
tabooed  from  a chance  to  regain  a position  and  income  somewhat 
equivalent  to  the  one  I was  induced  to  abandon  in  1899.  Nay,  hav- 
ing in  the  matters  of  support  and  destiny  delivered  myself  up  to  the 
sole  discretion  and  good  will  of  these  ministerial  bosses,  merely  since 
my  arrival  at  Concord,  1902,  I have  been  dispossessed  of  about  $6,000, 
when  considering  my  former  income  as  pastor  in  Minnesota,  1899,  or 
about  $4,000  when  considering  the  average  income  of  the  fifteen  pas- 
tors of  the  Boston  District;  or  over  $2,000  when  considering  the  sal- 
ary of  my  Concord  successor,  Rev.  Norden,  whose  income,  however,  is 
the  smallest  granted  pastors  on  the  mission  field.  Still,  Norden ’s  fam- 
ily consists  merely  of  a wife  and  adopted  daughter,  all  able  to  work 
for  themselves,  while  I have  five  minors  to  provide  for,  besides  a 
wife,  flagging  under  the  incessant  ravages  since  1899,  when,  over- 
whelmed by  obsecrations  and  entreaties  of  the  president  of  the  New 
York  Conference,  Doctor  Ahlquist,  this  exceptionally  good  woman’s 
faith  in  the  universal  “angeldom”  of  the  ministry  was  great  enough 
to  overcome  my  hesitations  to  leave  Minnesota  by  reminding  me  of 
the  fate  of  Jonas,  disobedient  to  the  call  to  go  to  Nineveh. 

From  the  fall,  1906,  to  the  fall,  1908,  after  deducting  the  railroad 
expenses  for  my  travels  to  the  respective  congregations,  such  as  Gard- 


20 


ner,  etc.,  served  by  me  on  Sundays,  etc.,  my  income  from  this  has 
been  an  average  of  $17  a month,  while  Norden’s  salary  has  been  $50 
a month  from  his  congregation,  according  to  the  salary  the  Concord 
parish  is  accustomed  to  grant  its  pastors,  and  which  salary  they  would 
have  been  giving  me  if  granted  the  same  moral  and  financial  support 
Norden  is  assisted  to.  During  this  time  Norden  is  recorded  as  receiv- 
ing from  the  Conference  treasury  $300  a year,  except  the  first  year, 
when  he  got  only  $200.  Notwithstanding  my  greater  need  of  such 
assistance  from  the  mission  treasury,  not  a cent  has  been  granted  me 
during  this  time  Norden  has  been  in  Concord,  except  that  Rev.  Linell 
of  Gardner  told  me  that  God  will  reward  me  for  assisting  him  and 
his  parish  at  Gardner. 

Notwithstanding  all  excuses  to  the  contrary,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  prove  that  it  depends  upon  the  brethren  in  the  ministry  if 
a pastor  is  to  receive  anything  from  the  mission  board  of  a conference. 
Nay,  though  even  Rev.  J.  Alf.  Anderson  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  a former 
vice-president  of  the  New  York  Conference,  while,  according  to  the 
reports  from  the  brethren,  he  had  expressed  his  wonder  how  I could 
get  along  and  sustain  myself  in  Concord,  wrote  to  Frank  Lindquist, 
the  leader  of  the  Concord  parish  at  that  time,  1902,  that  the  Con- 
ference was  too  poor  to  grant  me  more  than  $75  a year  from  the  mis- 
sion board,  still  such  letters  could  not  keep  this  Mr.  Lindquist,  now 
at  Lowell,  Mass.,  from  writing  the  following  letter  to  Doctor  Nel- 
senius,  the  present  president  of  the  Conference : 

It  seems  to  me  that  Pastor  Holmgren  has  not  received  a just  treatment  by 
his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  as  with  the  family  he  is  obliged  to  provide  for, 
the  conference  ought  to  be  in  duty  bound  to  grant  him  the  same  support 
awarded  other  ministers  laboring  on  the  mission  field.  It  seems  to  me  that 
when  a congregation  with  about  sixty-five  communicants  gives  its  pastor  $600 
a year,  the  conference  ought  to  add  a couple  hundred,  and  with  less  than 
$800  a year  it  is  difficult  for  a pastor  with  family  (even  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances) to  get  along  in  Concord. 

All  this,  though  none  of  these  brethren  has  spent  as  many  years  as 
I have  of  strenuous  labors  to  prepare  myself  for  my  calling  in  life; 
and  though,  in  spite  of  the  many  obstacles  placed  in  my  way,  I am  in 
possession  of  the  finest  testimonials  and  certificates,  not  only  as  a 
graduate  from  schools,  but  also  from  my  labors  as  pastor,  and  in  such 
places  where  I have  reason  to  think  that  none  of  these  leaders  would 
have  been  able  to  persevere  as  I have  done. 

Still  my  appeals  for  mercy  have  been  met  with  cold  contempt, 
while,  for  instance,  Rev.  Norden  has  been  assisted  not  only  to  become 
my  successor  in  1906,  but  now  on  the  verge  of  moving  again,  to 


21 


calls  from  East  and  West,  and  in  the  month  of  May  of  this  year  is  to 
move  to  a parish  in  Wisconsin,  he  evidently  having  been  here  in  Con- 
cord to  assist  Aslev  et  comp.,  of  the  ministerial  leaders,  to  remove 
every  prestige  of  appearance  that  I had  been  abused  by  the  blacklist- 
ers,  he,  for  instance,  even  telling  my  milkman,  the  farmer  I am  owing 
about  $200,  that  the  treatment  I have  received  is  justifiable. 

Nevertheless,  an  investigation  would  show  that  during  Rev.  Nor- 
den's  labors  at  Concord  there  has  been  a corroboration  of  the  state- 
ment once  made  by  the  former  Manchester  pastor  and  Minnesota  Con- 
ference official,  Rev.  A.  Carlson,  that  there  would  not  be  much  of  a 
congregation  at  Concord  if  the  song-leader,  Frank  Lindquist,  were 
away.  Evidently  to  accommodate  the  plans  or  wishes  of  Rev.  Aslev 
of  Lowell,  Mass.,  in  1904  this  Lindquist  moved  to  Lowell;  and  in 
March,  1906,  the  Concord  deacons  wrote  to  the  pastors  of  the  Bos- 
ton District  that  the  welfare  of  the  congregation  demanded  my  re- 
moval from  the  place  and  that  Pastor  Aslev  (his  name  being  used  as 
a Judas  kiss)  may  defer  to  render  a more  thorough-going  account  of 
the  real  facts. 

Still,  in  those  very  days  there  was  a steady  progression,  so  that  I 
had  been  able  to  reduce  the  debt  of  the  congregation  to  almost  noth- 
ing, though,  on  account  of  a letter  from  Doctor  Nelsenius,  the  records 
of  the  Synod  do  not  give  me  the  credit  for  it ; just  as,  for  instance,  the 
about  50  new  communicants  received  to  my  charge  in  Minnesota  dur- 
ing the  first  nine  months  of  1899  were  not  recorded  in  the  Synod's 
records,  owing  to  the  failure  of  the  Minnesota  Conference's  vice-presi- 
dent, Rev.  L.  G.  Almen,  to  fulfil  his  promise  that  at  my  departure 
from  Minnesota  in  September,  1899,  as  the  acting  pastor  of  my 
vacated  charge,  he  would  see  to  it  that  these  accessions  would  be  re- 
ported to  the  statistician  in  order  to  grant  me  that  commendation 
from  those,  my  years  in  Minnesota. 

So,  even  here  in  Concord,  the  communicant  number  was  increas- 
ing, it  having  almost  doubled  during  my  ministry.  Tea,  even  after 
I had  been  “ declared"  as  not  accountable  for  my  actions,  March, 
1906,  I kept  on  taking  in  new  good  members,  which  goes  to  show  that 
all  that  was  needed  was  that  the  Conference  president  would  tell  Rev. 
Aslev  and  chums  to  tend  to  their  own  business  and  to  leave  me 
alone,  and  thus  to  show  that  I was  granted  the  moral  and  financial 
support  needed  to  fill  my  calling  as  minister.  Such  procedure  would 
have  been  the  proper  thing  instead  of  refusing  to  grant  me  the  $200 
the  congregation  had  petitioned  for,  to  which  petition,  however,  Doc- 
tor Nelsenius  replied: 


22 


The  Conference  refused  to  grant  the  petition  from  the  Concord  congrega- 
tion for  aid  from  the  mission  treasury  this  year  because  it  has  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Conference  that  you  cannot  labor  any  longer  at  that  place  to 
any  blessing.  The  whole  Conference  seems  to  know  that  there  are  matters  of 
dispute  between  you  and  the  congregation,  yea,  that  the  congregation  enter- 
tains a deplorably  bitter  feeling  against  you. 

Still,  “these  matters  of  dispute”  were  in  the  main  caused  by  Doctor 
Nelsenius  himself,  as  he  wrote  to  me  that  the  funds  of  about  $600  I 
had  collected  among  my  American  friends  ought  to  be  used  for  a par- 
sonage, as  the  donators  had  intended  it,  and  not  to  pay  off  the  church 
debt,  as  the  parish  leaders  wanted.  And  as  to  the  “bitter  feeling” 
he  said  was  entertained  against  me  because  I kept  taking  in  new  mem- 
bers, Doctor  Nelsenius  himself  wrote  to  me  that  while  I wait  for  a call 
to  another  congregation  I ought  to  build  up  the  Concord  parish  as 
much  as  possible,  and,  as  I had  done  so  all  the  time,  I thought  his 
advice  to  me  meant  that  I should  add  more  members  to  the  fold,  in 
spite  of  that  one  of  the  parish  leaders  had  told  me  that  the  people 
ought  to  come  themselves  and  ask  to  be  admitted,  and  not  the  pastor  to 
ask  them.  Furthermore,  as  to  the  bitter  feeling  against  me  for  having 
recorded  the  members  I took  in  the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1906, 
Doctor  Nelsenius  wrote  to  me  that  he  had  written  to  the  parish  leaders 
that  they  ought  to  be  happy  that  so  many  additions  were  made  to  the 
fold,  he  at  the  same  time  stating  that  those  members  received  on  that 
same  Sunday  could  be  taken  in  when  I send!  in  my  report  to  the 
statistician  before  the  Conference  meet  in  April,  and  that  they  could 
be  included  when  this  report  was  to  be  printed. 

On  the  top  of  it  all,  when,  at  a meeting  of  eighteen  of  these  Con- 
cord leaders  and  chums,  I had  been  “voted”  out  from  the  parish,  the 
president  of  the  Boston  District,  Rev.  J.  A.  Bernhard,  was  quick  to 
publish  in  the  papers  of  the  Synod  the  degrading  news  that  I had 
been  discharged  by  the  Concord  congregation;  he  at  the  same  time 
mentioning  how  good  and  merciful  the  brethren  of  the  district  had 
been  towards  a destitute  brother,  etc. ; another  of  the  pastors  of 
the  district  also  publishing  that  the  Concord  parish  has  a bright  fu- 
ture in  store;  owing  to  the  fact  that  Rev.  Norden  is  to  take  charge  of 
the  Concord  parish.  But  now,  when  Norden  is  to  depart,  after 
leaving  the  parish  in  a debt  of  about  $3,000,  and  after  the  Synod  has 
lost  a comparatively  good  hold  on  the  people,  the  president  of  the 
Boston  District,  in  his  recently  published  report  this  year,  is  now  silent 
with  reference  to  the  Concord  details,  which  leads  me  to  ask  why  he 
could  not  have  employed  the  same  tactics  when  I was  leaving,  some- 
thing that  compelled  me  to  state  in  the  third  supplement : 


23 


When  our  Synod  sends  out  missionaries  among  heathens  in  Asia,  etc.,  and 
when,  though  our  church  edifice  in  Concord  was  plenty  big  enough  even  be- 
fore Norden  came  here,  the  ministerial  bosses  permit  this  my  successor  et 
comp,  not  only  to  spend  the  several  hundred  dollars  I had  collected  from  our 
American  friends,  but  also  to  erect  an  almost  new  edifice,  or  preposterously 
enlarging  the  church,  thereby  unnecessarily  involving  the  congregation  in  a 
debt  of  about  $3,000,  evidently  with  the  understanding  that  the  bosses  would 
gradually  make  the  other  congregations  of  the  Synod  pay  for  it,  thus  there 
being  plenty  of  money  for  flowers,  shows,  etc.,  every  right-minded  person  who 
investigates  the  pros  and  cons  will  think  that  the  Synod  must  have  money 
to  burn  and  also  a heart  of  stone  to  be  so  extravagant  and  still  permit  its 
hard-working  missionary,  as  in  my  case,  to  fare  hundred  per  cent,  worse  than 
its  missionary  in  heathen  lands. 

The  people  are,  indeed,  not  blind  to  such  things;  and  there  is  no 
wonder  that,  for  instance,  a prominent  member  of  the  Concord  par- 
ish could  aver  that  I would  have  received  a call,  and  the  protection 
needed,  long  ago,  if  the  ministers  were  not  arrayed  against  me,  and 
that  “when  ministers  are  such,  how  can  anybody  expect  the  people 
to  be  better 

Nay,  the  parish  owners  or  leaders  of  Concord  have  shown  me  a 
good  deal  more  consideration  than  the  ministerial  bosses  have.  In 
1904,  when  I perceived  that  for  some  reasons,  personal  or  other  inter- 
ests, they  wanted  me  to  give  room  to  another  preacher,  as  is  often  the 
case  in  our  small  parishes,  especially  when  skulking,  envious  brethren 
are  at  the  bottom  of  the  movement,  I told  these  parish  leaders  that 
if  they  gave  me  one  year  to  accommodate  myself  to  their  cherished 
wishes,  within  that  time  I would  do  all  I could  to  secure  a call  from 
another  parish. 

On  the  strength  of  such  promise,  I was  given  liberty  to  develop 
the  congregation  and  to  increase  its  membership,  at  the  same  time 
laboring  hard  to  coax  the  brethren,  especially  conference  presidents, 
to  grant  me  another  call.  Evidently  on  account  of  the  blacklisting 
ringleaders,  my  appeals  were,  however,  in  vain,  except  that  I received 
a call  from  the  Illinois  Conference  to  go  to  Munising,  Mich.,  at  a sal- 
ary of  $700  a year,  in  regard  to  which  Eev.  Linder,  now  president  of 
the  Illinois  Conference,  wrote  to  me,  that  he  did  not  wonder  that  I 
refused  to  accept  that  call,  he  claiming  that  the  Conference  offers  an 
unmarried  pastor  a salary  of  $1,000  a year. 

This  Linder  also  wrote  that  the  Ishpheming  District,  of  which  he 
was  the  president,  had  requested  that  the  conference  officials  renew 
the  call  to  me  at  a salary  of  $1,000  a year.  The  officials  refused  to 
do  this,  they  afterward  informing  me  that  from  my  letter  of  refusal 
they  understood  that  I was  played  out  on  account  of  the  unnatural 


24 


strain  I had  been  subjected  to  from  having  worked  as  book  agent,  etc., 
day  and  night  to  keep  the  wolf  from  my  door;  especially  as,  during 
the  operations  on  my  wife  and  oldest  son,  I had  had  an  almost  super- 
human task  to  keep  the  blacklisted  at  bay  from  smothering  me. 
But  how  could  any  ministerial  board  expect  that,  no  matter  how 
strong  or  healthy  a man  otherwise  would  be,  he  could  recuperate  and 
get  over  such  temporary  break-downs,  if  they  withhold  from  him 
a chance  to  live  as  the  average  man  ? 

Who,  then,  can  justly  wonder  that  I am  kept  in  suspense ; and  that 
I am  appealing  to  the  bosses  for  a human  treament?  When,  some 
time  ago,  I asked  a certain  concern  for  employment  in  their  service, 
and  they  replied  that  they  would  at  once  discharge  a man,  in  order 
to  give  room  for  me,  who  can  wonder  that  I shuddered  at  the  thought 
of  needlessly  taking  another  man’s  work,  when  so  many  thousands 
are  idle  and  facing  even  starvation ; and  while  the  Synod  cannot  find 
men  enough  to  fill  the  vacant  parishes? 

The  president  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  recently  published  that 
thirty  pastors  are  needed  in  that  conference;  and  in  the  Synod’s 
paper  in  March,  1909,  Rev.  Andeer  of  South  Dakota,  says  that  he  is 
trying  to  get  two  pastors  where  he  is  located,  each  pastor  to  receive 
a salary  of  $900  a year,  besides  a parsonage  for  each  (not  to  mention 
the  many  gifts  in  natura,  etc.,  such  places  generally  bestow  on  a 
pastor). 

Though,  for  instance,  Rev.  M.  J.  Lonner  writes  me  that  I ought  to 
secure  some  kind  of  employment  outside  of  the  ministry,  and  that 
none  of  the  brethren  cares  to  know  anything  of  my  experiences  in 
life,  still,  in  conformity  with  the  stand  I am  compelled  to  take,  I 
may  here  also  refer  to  what  took  place  some  twenty-three  years  ago, 
while  I was  still  preparing  for  mechanical  engineering. 

Already  at  that  time  I had  been  strongly  reminded  of  the  truth 
of  my  pious  mother’s  assertion,  that  a preacher’s  mission  on  the  con- 
science of  man  is  the  only  consummate  and  radical  remedy,  while  the 
almsgiver,  the  policeman,  etc.,  can  merely  mend  a few  holes  or  rents 
slain  by  malice  and  envy  on  a writhing,  bleeding  humanity. 

One  Sunday  in  1886,  I asked  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  New  York 
Conference  to  follow  me  to  a certain  home  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where 
the  husband  had  threatened  to  plunge  a knife  through  his  wife.  The 
good  pastor  replied,  however,  that  he  had  had  enough  umbrellas 
broken  on  his  back  already,  and  that  such  a woman  has  to  stand  the 
consequences  of  having  married  such  a husband. 

When,  in  the  evening,  I arrived  at  this  home,  I found  that  the  hus- 
band had  received  a stroke  of  paralysis.  Though  a short  time  ago,  as 


25 


thanks  for  my  admonitions,  etc.,  he  had  given  me  a black  eye,  I was 
now  overfilled  with  joy  to  learn  that  the  good  work  had  made  its  im- 
pression on  his  heart.  Stretched  out  on  his  bed  he  begged  me  to 
take  his  hand,  whereupon  he  said,  among  other  things : ‘ ‘ Holmgren, 

I know  that  there  is  a bright  future  in  store  for  you  in  the  mechan- 
ical profession;  but,  believe  me,  the  world  is  in  need  of  such  men  as 
you  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel/  ’ 

Indeed,  if  I had  followed  my  father’s  wish,  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, at  this  time  I would  have  been  a well-to-do,  respected 
member  of  the  community.  But  having  acceded  to  my  mother’s  wish 
to  sympathize  with  suffering  mankind,  even  to  the  extent  of  becom- 
ing a preacher,  who,  according  to  St.  John  18  :37,  knows  that  Heaven 
counts  witnessing  to  the  truth  the  most  important,  I find  that  cruel 
persecutors  and  blacklisted  of  the  ministry  are  not  only  envious  and 
malicious  enough  to  deprive  me  of  my  God-given  calling,  but  even, 
when  I am  no  longer  able  to  alone  carry  the  burden  laid  upon  me, 
they  are  ruthlessly  withholding  from  me  the  redress  needed  to  defray 
expenses  and  losses  caused  by  their  inhuman  and  unchristian  acts, 
and  which  expenses,  in  good  faith  and  trust  in  the  brotherhood  of 
man  and  ministers,  my  noble  human  creditors  during  the  last  nirue 
years  have  advanced. 

Nay,  as  Christ  under  arrest,  poor  and  defenseless,  I stand  an  easy 
prey  to  conspiracies  and  efforts  to  render  me  so  black  and  vile,  so 
hateful,  that  the  influence  of  this  book,  etc.,  as  disinfector  of  the 
sanctuary  is  to  be  weakened  and  annulled,  I being  unable  to  secure 
even  a lawyer  to  ward  off  the  attempts  of  these  bosses  to  secure  my 
scalp,  which  they  seem  bound  to  have. 

However,  who  can  justly  wonder  that  I am  endeavoring  to  secure 
a fair  trial  and  a human  treatment,  that  behooves  a brotherhood  of 
ministers  and  teachers  in  morals  and  religion? 

Is  this  a spirit  of  brotherhood,  when,  for  instance,  some  years  ago, 
the  president  of  the  College  of  the  New  York  Conference,  Dr.  Beck, 
authorizingly  and  reassuringly  “whispered”  in  the  willing  ear  of  a 
New  Sweden,  Me.,  leader,  that  I have  had  troubles  wherever  I have 
been  ? Who  can  wonder  that  such  ‘ ‘ eloquent  ’ ’ whispers,  together  with 
instigating  letters  from  other  “brethren,”  such  as  the  now  deceased 
Aaron,  did  reassure  the  New  Sweden  leaders  and  their  coarse-grained 
followers,  that  I did  not  even  dare  to  say  that  my  soul  was  my  own, 
and  that,  having  “no  friend  among  the  ministers,”  I would  not  ^are 
to  complain!  Yea,  the  blacklisted’  influence  at  that  place  was  so 
great  that,  for  instance,  when  the  members  had  promised  to  give  me 
$100,  at  the  same  time  stipulating  that  I should  speak  well  of  them 


26 


and  they  of  me,  such  peaceable  finale  was  craftily  annulled  by  a 
deacon  with  whom  the  hegemonical  blacklisters  stood  in  touch. 

These  blacklisting  teachers  in  morals  and  religion  are  forgetful  of 
the  rules  of  ethics,  by  which  we  are  forbidden  to  lessen  the  estimation 
in  which  others  are  held,  by  any  means  by  which  they  are  brought 
in  contempt.  We  may  here  refer  to  the  assertions  made  by  the  former 
president  of  Brown  University,  Dr.  Wayland : 

No  man  can  be  respected  by  those  to  whom  he  is  the  frequent  subject  of 
ridicule  and  scorn.  It  is  a mean  excuse  for  conduct  of  this  sort,  to  plead 
that  we  do  not  mean  any  harm.  What  do  we  mean?  Surely,  reasonable  be- 
ings should  be  prepared  to  answer  this  question.  Were  the  witty  calumni- 
ator to  stand  concealed,  and  hear  himself  made  the  subject  of  remarks  pre- 
cisely similar  to  those  in  which  he  indulges  respecting  others,  he  would  have 
a very  definite  conception  of  what  others  mean.  Let  him,  then,  carry  the  les- 
son home  to  his  own  bosom. 

Nor  is  this  evil  the  less  for  the  veil  under  which  it  is  frequently  and  hy- 
pocritically hidden.  Men  and  women  propagate  slander  under  the  cover  of 
secrecy,  supposing  that  by  uttering  it  under  this  injunction  the  guilt  is  of 
course  removed.  But  it  is  not  so.  The  simple  question  is  this : Does  my 
duty  to  God  or  to  man  require  me  to  publish  this  which  will  injure  another? 
If  it  does,  publish  it  wherever  that  duty  requires,  and  do  it  fearlessly.  If 
it  does  not,  it  is  just  as  great  guilt  to  publish  it  to  one  as  to  another.  We 
are  bound,  in  all  such  cases,  to  ask  ourselves  the  question,  Am  I under  ob- 
ligation to  tell  this  fact  to  this  person?  If  not,  I am  under  the  contrary 
obligation  to  be  silent.  And  still  more.  This  injunction  of  secrecy  is  gen- 
erally nothing  better  than  the  mere  dictate  of  cowardice.  We  wish  to  grat- 
ify our  love  of  detraction,  but  are  afraid  of  the  consequences  to  ourselves. 
We,  therefore,  converse  under  this  injunction  that  the  injury  to  another  may 
be  done  without  impunity.  And,  hence,  it  is  that  in  this  manner  the  vilest 
and  most  injurious  calumnies  are  generally  circulated. 

Deprived  of  the  needed  moral  and  financial  backing,  it  was,  there- 
fore, no  wonder  that  in  1902,  after  two  winters  of  hard  labors  at  that 
place,  New  Sweden,  Me.,  I was  discharged  and  thrown  to  the  dogs 
on  the  strength  of  such  preposterous  charges  as  the  following  letters 
expose : 

A True  Statement. 

To  whom  it  may  concern: 

With  pleasure  I do  make  this  statement,  and  consider  myself  duty  bound 
to  do  so  in  favor  of  truth  and  justice,  after  witnessing  a performance  of  the 
most  unjust  and  cruel  treatment  of  a Christian  brother,  that  I can  conceive, 
by  the  deacons  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  this  town.  The  greatest  curse 
on  this  earth  and  in  this  life,  is  scandal-mongers.  These  evil  disposed  crea- 
tures have  set  in  circulation  a rumor  that  the  Rev.  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren, 
the  pastor  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  this  town,  has,  for  the  purpose  of 
gain,  unlawfully  and  criminally  milked  my  cows,  thereby  committing  an  act 


27 


unbecoming  a neighbor,  a Christian  and  a minister  of  the  Gospel.  A meeting 
was  held  by  the  deacons  of  said  church,  Friday  afternoon,  January  24,  to 
investigate  this  matter.  I should  blush  to  give  the  proceedings  of  the  manner 
in  which  said  meeting  wTas  conducted,  and  the  venom  and  unchristian  lan- 
guage used  in  connection  with  the  absurd  and  childish  charges  preferred 
against  their  pastor.  All  I do  wish  to  state  is  the  plain,  unvarnished  truth 
in  connection  with  this  affair,  and  this  I am  most  able  to  give,  as  I think 
myself  the  most  interested.  It  is  as  follows : In  the  summer  of  1901,  the 
latter  part  of  June,  as  near  as  I can  remember,  my  cows  broke  through  and 
out  of  the  pasture  during  the  night.  In  the  morning  the  milker  found  them 
missing,  and  began  looking  for  them  through  the  woods  and  adjacent  farms. 
Between  9 and  10  o’clock  in  the  forenoon,  he  passed  the  pasturage  and  met 
Pastor  Holmgren,  who  informed  him  that  he  had  the  cows  tied  up  in  the 
barn,  whom  he  found,  together  with  several  others,  in  his  newly  “paris- 
greened”  potato  field,  “last  night,”  and  which  he  did  not  succeed  to  get  rid 
of.  These  cowts  were  provided  with  hay  in  their  captivity.  Later,  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  noticed  milk  streaming  from  the  udder  of  one  of  the  cows,  and  know- 
ing that  she  suffered  on  account  of  being  used  to  early  milking,  he  milked  the 
cow,  and  put  the  milk  aside  in  order  to  give  it  to  the  owner  of  the  cow,  when 
he  appeared ; which  he  did,  but  which  my  man  refused : I will  now  state 
that  I consider  Pastor  Holmgren  doing  a humane  and  Christian  act  to  that 
animal,  and  I told  him  so,  as  soon  as  I heard  of  it,  and  permit  me  to  reiter- 
ate here,  that  I shall  always  consider  it  so.  Pastor  Holmgren  refused  com- 
pensation for  the  damage  my  cattle  had  done  to  his  garden  and  small  potato 
field,  and  we  have  been  good  friends  and  neighbors,  both  before  and  since,  and 
I know  that  I never  for  a moment  considered  that  act  of  his  inconsistent 
with  his  character  as  man  or  preacher,  and  if  Pastor  Holmgren  had  not 
mentioned  the  matter  himself,  there  would  have  been  no  warp  for  slanderers 
and  evil-minded  people  to  make  a web  to  smirch  his  name.  I appeared  at 
the  deacons’  meeting  on  date  above  stated,  and  told  these  facts  unsolicited 
by  them ; but  so  far  as  I can  learn,  the  secretary  failed  to  or  wilfully  neg- 
lected to  enter  them  on  the  record  of  proceedings,  and  in  order  to  have  a 
full  light  on  the  subject  I offer  this  to  Pastor  Holmgren  to  use  as  his  discre- 
tion dictates,  and  which  surely  will  convince  all  unbiased  and  earnest  peo- 
ple that  I consider  him  highly  wronged  and  most  unjustly  treated  by  such 
cruel  and  malignant  slander. 

Frank  O.  Landgrane. 

New  Sweden,  Me.,  January  25,  1902. 


To  all  whom  it  may  concern: 

As,  in  order  to  save  the  lives  of  cows,  broken  away  during  night,  and  graz- 
ing on  the  unfenced  “paris-greened”  potato  field  and  garden  belonging  to  Pas- 
tor C.  J.  A.  Holmgren,  it  was  necessary  to  confine  and  tie  those  who  kept 
on  returning  after  having  been  driven  away.  As  Pastor  Holmgren,  being  a 
newcomer  to  the  settlement,  was  unacquainted  with  wThere  these  cows  belonged, 
and  not  knowing  how  long  a time  it  would  take  to  find  the  owners  of  these 
cows,  these  animals  were  provided  with  hay.  etc.,  and  in  the  morning,  at 
the  direction  of  Mrs.  Holmgren,  two  cows  were  milked,  and  the  order  given 
that  the  milk  should  be  delivered  to  the  owners  as  soon  as  found.  Thus,  we. 


28 


the  undersigned,  the  owners  of  these  two  cows,  do  hereby  beg  leave  to  tender 
our  cordial  thanks  and  feelings  of  obligation  to  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Holmgren  for 
their  good  will  and  acts  of  kindness,  we  wanting  neither  our  cows  to  graze 
on  a paris-greened  field,  nor  their  yielding  capacity  diminished  by  letting 
them  go  unmilked  at  regular  intervals.  Therefore,  we  also  extend  our 
thanks  to  the  Rev.  Holmgren's  servant  girl  (a  20-year  old  daughter  of  a New 
Sweden  farmer)  that  she  advocated  this  step  (she  doing  the  milking  in  the 
case  of  one  of  the  cows),  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Holmgren,  who  have  spent  most  of 
their  days  in  cities,  being  unversed  in  the  care  of  cattle. 

(Signed)  W.  Anderson, 

Frank  O.  Landgrane, 

Owners  of  the  cows. 

J.  A.  Lindquist, 

Witness  to  the  signatures. 

Reasons  for  Sending  out  the  First  Circular. 

That  it  is  of  paramount  importance  to  a pastor  to  follow  up  such 
inquiry  as  to  whether  he  has  any  friends  among  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  is  furthermore  preeminently  borne  by  the  fact  that,  in  1902, 
the  president  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  Dr.  Norelius,  writes  me,  that 
to  find  places  for  ministers  nowadays  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the 
conference  presidents,  whose  influence,  however,  is  somewhat  regu- 
lated by  the  condition  referred  to  in  Rev.  L.  J.  Film’s  letter  of  1903 : 
“That  it  is  impossible  to  get  a call  without  being  popular  among 
the  brethren,  I have  understood  long  ago.  ’ ’ 

As  a corroboration  of  this,  Rev.  J.  T.  0.  Olander  writes  in  1903  : 

Rev.  Dahlberg  decided  to  remain  at  bis  place,  because  Pastor  Lind  went  to 
South  Bend,  and  vilified  Dahlberg,  who  for  such  reasons  did  not  get  the  call, 
though  the  church  council  had  put  him  up  as  their  candidate.  What  a 
brotherly  act! 

Among  other  instances,  it  may  now  suffice  to  refer  to  a letter  from 
.the  Boston  District’s  former  president.  Rev.  E.  J.  Nystrom,  who  had 
just  assisted  me  to  the  call  from  Concord,  evidently  that  I may  assist 
him  to  receive  the  call  from  the  coveted  Manchester  congregation, 
whose  leaders  were  related  to  the  leader,  F.  E.  Lindquist,  of  the  Con- 
cord parish,  at  that  time  losing  members  on  account  of  the  parishioners 
having  driven  away  their  former  pastor,  he  having  fallen  in  love  with 
a comparatively  kithless,  but  gifted,  girl  of  the  fold,  Rev.  Nystrom 
writing  (May  24,  1902)  : 

I told  Lindstrom  (a  deacon  and  lay  preacher,  who  also  had  tried  to  as- 
sist Nystrom  to  Manchester,  and  who  was  later  on,  without  attending  the 
schools  of  the  Synod,  etc.,  by,  or  through,  Nystrom,  lifted  into  the  ministry 
and  a good  charge),  that,  because  of  intriguing  brethren,  I lost  the  call  to 
a good  charge,  where,  for  many  years,  people  have  been  waiting  for  a chance 


29 


to  call  me  to  become  their  pastor.  Though  I received  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority, 43  votes,  while  the  other  candidates,  in  spite  of  the  eager  exertions 
to  muster  votes,  got  26,  the  presiding  pastor  alleged  that  I could  not  be  con- 
sidered. The  congregation  kept  on  until  11.30  p.  m.,  when  many  got  tired 
out  and  went  home.  Next  day,  several  wrote  to  me,  and  bitterly  bewailed 
the  injustice  of  the  presiding  pastor.  This  was  done  by  one,  who,  in  all 
brotherly  love  and  amity,  I had  assisted  to  a good  charge  in  the  West. 


The  Conscience  of  the  New  York  Conference. 

When,  in  1899,  I arrived  from  my  well-earned  good  position  in 
Minnesota  to  Newport, ’R.  I.,  the  very  greeting  I at  first  received  at 
the  landing  place  was  from  a leading  member  of  the  Newport  par- 
ish, who  exclaimed  that  the  conference  officials  had  committed  a wrong 
in  inducing  me  with  such  a large  family  to  move  to  such  a small  mis- 
sion as  Newport.  This  first  greeting  sounded  in  my  ears  as  the  un- 
hushed, spontaneous  voice  of  the  conscience  of  the  New  York  Con- 
ference, greeting  the  newcomer  from  Minnesota,  where  he  had  just 
• added  about  fifty  new  communicant  members  to  the  flock,  and  where 
he  had  just  sold  his  horses,  implements,  furniture,  etc.,  far  below  cost 
in  order  to  comply  with  the  wishes  and  exactions  of  the  officials  of 
the  New  York  Conference. 

A few  weeks  after  my  arrival  at  Newport,  Rev.  T.  0.  Linell,  then 
at  Malden,  Mass.,  voiced  this  conscience  of  the  conference  by  at 
once  securing  me  a call  from  the  more  promising  field  of  Everett, 
Mass.,  he  at  the  same  time  telling  me  that  the  conference  has  far 
more  important  missions  to  spend  money  on  than  on  this  compara- 
tively insignificant  place  as  Newport  is,  on  which  the  conference  ‘ ‘ has 
already  thrown  away  too  much  money.” 

At  this  juncture,  however,  the  following  thundering  letter  arrived 
from  the  conference  president,  Dr.  Ahlquist: 

In  the  name  of  the  conference,  I forbid  you  to  move  or  to  accept  any  other 
call  before  next  conference  meeting;  and  if  you  move,  I shall  have  you  ar- 
raigned and  called  to  account  for  such  a lost  to  shame  and  unchristian  act. 
The  officials  of  the  conference  did  not  call  you  to  Newport,  that  by  such  a 
base  act  you  should  render  the  death  blow  to  all  Lutheran  mission  at  that 
place.  It  is  a despicable  performance  of  Linell  and  Johansson  (of  Boston) 
to  try  to  seduce  you  to  commit  such  treachery  against  the  conference  and 
its  officials. 

If  in  reality  and  in  secret,  Ahlquist  and  chums  were  backing  up 
Linell  in  these  endeavors  to  get  me  switched  off  at  once  from  the  dis- 
astrous consequences  of  remaining  at  Newport,  they  should  have  told 
me  so,  as  I could  hardly  imagine  that,  in  contradistinction  from  what 
came  to  me  from  other  sources,  Ahlquist ’s  letter  would  merely  be  a 


30 


hint  to  impress  me  to  always  own  that  his  conscience,  in  the  matter 
of  taking  me  away  from  my  good  position  in  Minnesota,  is  clean  and 
pure  as  the  lily. 

At  any  rate,  on  the  strength  of  his  outspoken  letter,  I considered 
myself  debarred  from  the  splendid  opportunity  of  somewhat  retriev- 
ing the  great  losses  sustained  owing  to  the  fact  that  Ahlquist  had 
employed  similar  language  when  he  induced  me  to  capitulate  from  my 
splendid  charge  at  Minnesota,  in  regard  to  which  Rev.  J.  T.  0. 
Olander  wrote  to  me : 

I cannot  understand  how  you  could  go  to  Newport ; but  I presume  you  did 
not  know  anything  about  the  place. 

So,  also,  the  statistician  of  the  New  York  Conference,  Rev.  K.  N. 
Rabenius,  of  Pontiac,  R.  I.,  assured  me,  that  if,  instead  of  having 
directed  my  initial  inquiries  to  another  former  schoolmate  (Rev.  K.  K. 
Broberg,  then  the  secretary  of  the  conference),  I had  questioned  Ra- 
benius, in  the  strongest  terms  possible  he  would  have  warned  me 
from  going  to  Newport,  no  matter  if,  during  the  period  of  a few  years,  • 
members  of  my  family  were  to  undergo  operations,  making  it  more 
desirable  to  be  nearer  home,  instead  of,  as  was  the  case  in  Minnesota, 
traveling  after  my  horses  about  4,000  miles  a year  between  my  wide- 
spread, distant  parish  annexes. 

Having  a bulky  household  to  move,  and  already  settled  down  in 
Newport,  and  in  compliance  with  Ahlquist ’s  request  or  outspoken 
letter,  I decided  to  remain  at  Newport,  which  I did  for  thirteen 
months,  merely  to  experience  that  the  millionaires,  to  whom  I had  to 
appeal  for  money  for  the  church  debt  and  even  for  my  own  salary, 
considered  that  this  mission  was  a waste  of  money.  Having  thus  sat- 
isfied my  own  conscience,  I ultimately  left  the  place  and  went  to 
New  Sweden,  Me.,  where  a student  preacher  had  secured  a refuge 
for  me. 

Ever  since  that  time,  I have  been  constantly  reminded  that  Ahl- 
quist and  chums  fully  agree  in  that  the  voice  of  the  conference-con- 
science  ought  to  be  hushed  by  throwing  me  entirely  to  the  dogs. 
So,  for  instance,  in  1903,  when,  on  account  of  being  thus  entirely 
cleaned  out,  sickness  at.  home,  the  members  of  my  family  being  unable 
to  stand  the  persecutions,  and  thus,  on  account  of  the  wolf  at  the  door, 

I could  not  attend  the  conference  meeting  in  March  of  that  year,  my 
letter  asking  for  an  excuse  having,  perhaps,  gone  astray  in  the  mails, 
the  following  threatening  words  arrived  from  the  president : 

In  accordance  with  resolutions  carried  at  the  conference  meeting  at  Peale, 
Pa.,  I do  herewith  solemnly  warn  you  because  of  your  great  default  in  not 


31 


sending  in  even  an  excuse  for  your  absence  from  said  meeting,  and  I do 
hereby  warn  you  as  having  trespassed  upon  the  conference  constitution,  Art. 
I,  Sec.  8. 

Ex  officio,  L.  P.  Ahlquist. 

Yea,  in  two  of  the  annual  records  of  the  conference,  it  is  falsely 
alleged  that  I have  been  absent  without  sending  in  an  excuse.  More- 
over, in  this  reign  of  terror,  A.  D.  1905,  though  having  struggled 
hard  to  attend  every  meeting  of  the  Boston  District,  the  following 
letter  came  from  Rev.  Aslev,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  a tool  of  the  bosses : 

Don’t  forget  to  attend  the  next  meeting  of  the  district.  That  is  my  broth- 
erly advice.  I don’t  want  to  say  any  more;  but  remember  Rosenquist,  who 
was  deposed  for  merely  being  contumacious. 

For  over  sixteen  years  this  Rosenquist  had  served  the  Saron  Luth- 
eran church  of  Chicago,  111.,  until  in  the  spring  of  1905,  he  was  de- 
posed by  the  officers  of  the  Illinois  Conference. 

Wild  and  Unbridled  Enemies. 

In  1901,  soon  after  I had  left  Newport,  and  was  stationed  at  New 
Sweden,  Me.,  intimidating  letters  arrived  from  the  conference  presi- 
dent, requesting  me  to  defray  part  of  the  heavy  expenses  that  had 
been  required  for  my  consummate  efforts  to  solicit  funds  for  pay- 
ing the  church  debt  of  Newport;  threats  rendering  it  of  the  greatest 
moment  to  lose  no  time  in  preparing  a statement  and  a petition  to  the 
whole  conference  for  protection.  In  such  heated  contest,  no  respite 
was  left  to  look  after  other  important  matters,  so  that,  for  instance, 
$50  was  lost  as  a result  of  a misunderstanding,  when  claiming  dam- 
ages from  a contemporaneous  fire  in  the  New  Sweden  parsonage. 

The  time  spent  for  drawing  up  this  consummate  appeal  for  protec- 
tion against  Ahlquist ’s  threats,  following  close  upon  the  defying 
snarls  from  Rev.  Kjellstrand,  who  was  the  pastor  of  the  two  Provi- 
dence deacons  who  had  built  the  Newport  church,  and  who  also  had 
been  appointed  by  the  ‘ ‘ chums  ’ * to  audit  my  money  account  from  the 
Newport  time,  changed,  it  is  true,  the  demeanor  of  Ahlquist,  but  the 
appeals  to  assign  some  redress  for  the  many  heavy  losses  sustained 
from  the  time  I was  induced  to  capitulate  from  a good  charge  at  Min- 
nesota, did  not  meet  with  the  needed  consummation. 

True  enough,  the  pastors  of  the  Providence  district  decided  to  ask 
the  conference  to  grant  me  $150  to  cover  part  of  the  moving  expenses, 
but  the  statistician  of  the  conference  wrote  that  to  bring  this  matter 
before  the  conference  would  mar  and  undermine  my  future  career 


32 


in  the  Synod.  Another  member  of  that  district  also  stated  that  the 
general  opinion  of  the  brethren  was  that  it  would  be  unwise  of  me 
to  take  up  the  matter  before  the  conference. 

Consequently,  I let  go  my  hold,  believing  that  these  warnings  in- 
dicated that,  even  if  some  would  play  off  as  if  they  were  down  on 
one  or  two  of  the  officials,  in  the  long  run  they  would  all  unite  in 
letting  me  have  the  worst  of  it,  the  condition  of  an  Augustana*  pas- 
tor in  a predicament  seeming  to  be  about  the  same  as  that  of  earth- 
quake victims,  at  the  mercy  of  rapacious  marauders,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  prevailing  chaos  and  the  lack  of  restriction,  to  mulct  and 
strip  the  unfortunate. 

Thus,  ten  years  ago,  a former  Augustana  pastor,  Rev.  J.  Seleen, 
wrote  to  me: 

Wild  and  unbridled  enemies  defying  the  constitution  and  by-laws  of  the 
Synod,  at  times  without  any  restrictions  whatever,  are  permitted  to  perse- 
cute the  most  faithful  servants  and  ministers  of  our  free  church.  When  one 
has  been  wearing  out  himself  in  the  service  of  the  Synod,  one  is  thrown  out 
in  the  world,  without  bread,  without  home  or  shelter.  If  one  has  been  pro- 
pitious enough  to  save  a little  of  the  petty  salary,  mostly  doled  out  irreg- 
ularly and  with  a low  grumble,  it  is  well  and  good;  if  not,  one  is  tossed  to 
seek  shelter  somewhere,  and  few  people,  if  any,  take  those  things  to  heart. 
That  such  things  cannot  end  well,  is  beyond  a doubt.  The  missions,  schools 
and  everything  else  are  deep  in  debts.  Are  the  people  poorer?  No,  the  re- 
verse. But  the  love  and  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  are  in  course  of  extinc- 
tion and  death. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Giant  Despair  beats  him,  leaves  him  in  a poisonous  dungeon  without 
food,  finally  gives  him  daggers  and  cords  and  advises  him  suicide.  But 
Christian  suddenly  remembers  a key  in  his  bosom,  called  Promise,  which 
will  open  any  lock  in  the  castle. — Pilgrim's  Progress. 


The  Battle  for  Life  Circular. 

Being  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  these,  my  ministerial  bosses,  I found 
at  last  that  they  were  on  the  spring  to  taboo  me  out  of  my  calling, 
as  Rev.  Aslev’s  letter  indicates,  on  such  paltry  excuse  that  I am  un- 
able to  attend  every  monthly  meeting  of  the  Boston  District  with  its 
monthly  outlay  of  $2 ; they  not  considering  that  my  willingness  is 
so  great  that  at  every  one  of  the  weddings  of  brethren  in  the  district 
the  customary  tax  of  $2  for  a wedding  present  has  been  paid  by  me, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  the  last  one.  This,  in  spite  of  that,  while 
the  brethren  in  general  were  taking  advantage  of  the  prosperous 
times,  my  home  has  been  devastated,  so  that  as  soon  as  I would  secure 
my  rights  as  a human  being,  and  my  debts  paid,  which  debts,  through 
almost  superhuman  efforts  on  my  part,  have  been  kept  at  a minimum, 
and  not  in  proportion  to  what  we  have  been  so  unmercifully  deprived 
of,  my  first  duty  will  be  to  try  to  furnish  up  a new  home  for  my 
family. 

At  any  rate,  when  my  first  circular,  “For  a Worthy  Cause,” 
proved  too  lenient  to  bring  about  the  desired  or  needed  understand- 
ing, the  large  circular,  “A  Battle  for  Life,”  with  supplements  fol- 
lowed. At  this  juncture,  one  of  the  Minnesota  pastors,  Rev.  E. 
Hedeen,  of  New  London,  Minn.,  wrote: 

Brother  Holmgren  is  not  the  only  Augustana  pastor  run  down  by  his  breth- 
ren. When  you  write  again  in  the  open,  name  the  persons  who  have  been  in- 
triguing against  a brother.  The  Augustana  Synod  is  organized  to  be  an 
Evangelical  free  church.  All  puppet  popes,  even  the  one  who  keeps  the  Sy- 
nod’s paper,  . . . stana,  we  can  knock  on  the  head  and  the  fingers.  No 
one  has  a right  to  oppress  a brother  who  honestly  works  according  to  his  call- 
ing and  office.  Commit  yourself  to  the  Great  Shepherd  and  His  care.  He  de- 
fends both  you  and  the  principles  at  stake. 

Such  letters  and  assurances  are,  indeed,  enough  to  prove  that  these 
my  circulars  are  the  despairing  cry  in  the  wilderness  of  those  who  re- 
main below,  and  who  have  sent  me  to  herald  their  pain.  If  the  church- 


84 


people,  or  their  leaders,  should  really  be  a class  by  themselves,  exempt 
from  observing  human  and  Christian  laws,  then  the  whole  church 
would  soon  deteriorate,  until  there  were  no  remedy;  the  sanctuary 
dragging  the  whole  people  to  destruction.  Indeed,  it  would  be  of  the 
most  disastrous  consequences,  if  blacklisting  teachers  in  morals  and 
religion  would  fall  back  upon  the  cognizance  as  to  jugglers  being  out- 
side of  the  jurisdiction  of  civil  law;  it  being  the  prerogative  of  the 
snaky,  twisting  and  hard  to  deal  with  animals,  to  crawl  through  the 
net  handled  by  the  authorities  to  catch  the  wild  game. 

Then  the  church  would  soon  relapse  into  the  state  or  condition 
it  was  at  the  time  of  Henry  II,  when  men,  whose  only  claim  of 
sanctity  was  that  they  wore  a black  gown  or  had  a shaven  head, 
claimed  the  right  of  being  judged  by  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal;  the 
result  being  that  many  criminals  who  deserved  to  be  hanged  escaped 
with  a slight  punishment,  as  when  the  priest  named  Brois  had  com- 
mitted an  unprovoked  murder.  When  King  Henry  commanded  him 
to  be  brought  before  the  king’s  court,  the  archbishop,  Becket,  inter- 
fered and  ordered  the  case  to  be  tried  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
who  sentenced  the  murderer  to  lose  his  place  for  two  years.  History 
tells  us  that  then  Henry  proceeded  to  put  the  constitutions  into  ex- 
ecution without  fear  or  favor.  A champion  of  the  church  of  that  day 
says : 

Then  was  seen  the  mournful  spectacle  of  priests  and  deacons  who  had 
commited  murder,  manslaughter,  robbery,  theft  and  other  crimes,  carried  in 
carts  before  the  commissioners  and  punished  as  they  were  ordinary  men. 

Magnuson ’s  Time. 

In  January,  1892,  after  my  present  successor  in  Concord,  Rev. 
Norden,  then  pastor  at  Ridgeway,  Pa.,  had  prevailed  upon  me  to 
abandon  a most  promising  future  in  the  largfc  Jamestown  congrega- 
tion, where  I then  had  worked  a year,  and  while  laboring  at  Mt. 
Jewett,  Pa.,  I received  the  following  letter  from  Rev.  M.  J.  Englund, 
then  superintendent  of  the  New  York  Conference  Orphans’  Home  at 
Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  but  now  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Synod’s  organ, 
August  ana: 

In  Augustana  and  Fosterlandet,  Rev.  A.  A.  Magnuson  is  criticised  for  hav- 
ing partaken  in  the  church  dedication  held  by  the  Methodists  and  the  Congre- 
gationalists.  In  his  ire,  Magnuson  accuses  you  as  the  author  of  that  criti- 
cism. Should  you  receive  a letter  from  him,  or  should  he  remonstrate  in  the 
papers,  disregard  it  entirely.  If  Brother  Holmgren  is  the  author  of  that  crit- 
icism, such  will  impart  honor  on  you,  as  an  indication  of  your  sanity  as  a 
churchman.  If  you  are  not  the  author,  it  is  best  for  you  not  to  make  any 


35 


rejoinders,  as  Magnuson’s  time  will  come  some  day.  I keep  it  all  enshrined 
in  my  memory.  Holmgren  does  not  need  to  fear  him,  as  I shall  know  how  to 
reply  to  his  remonstrances.  Unrighteousness  is  a bad  seed  to  sow. 

This  avowal  that  Magnuson’s  time  will  come  some  day  and  that 
Englund  had  stored  up  certain  things  in  his  memory,  evidently  refer 
to  the  circumstances  that  Magnuson,  who  at  that  time  was  pastor  of 
the  Second  Lutheran  Church  at  Jamestown,  and  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Orphans’  Home,  was  opposed  to  Englund  being  superintendent 
of  the  home,  and  that  for  such  reasons  Magnuson  was  a crow  to  be 
plucked.  Why  this  man  was  finally  impelled  to  resign  from  the  min- 
istry is  not  known  to  many  more  than  a former  president  of  the  Iowa 
Conference,  which  chum  of  Englund  had  the  case  in  charge,  Dr. 
Holmes. 

To  me  it  is  beyond  a doubt  that  Englund  himself  was  the  author 
of  that  criticism  as  there  are  other  similar  articles  by  him  published 
against  other  brethren,  who  have  more  recently  partaken  in  Union 
meetings,  etc. ; his  attacks  being  made  in  the  style  as  the  one  he  made 
on  the  Anglican  Church,  when  at  the  English  archbishop’s  visit  and 
the  bishops’  parade  in  Boston,  Mass.,  he  insinuatingly  connected  this 
event  with  that  it  looked  as  if  not  one  cow,  but  the  whole  barn,  was 
let  loose. 

Moreover,  in  1891,  Dr.  Evald  of  Chicago,  111.,  asserted  that  it  pained 
him  to  have  read  in  Fosterlandet  some  unfair  comments  in  regard  to 
a fair  arranged  by  me  at  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  at  which  about  $1,000 
was  realized;  Englund  being  evidently  the  author  of  even  that  criti- 
cism, as  it  has  a striking  resemblance  to  his  remarks  before  the  as- 
sembled multitude  at  his  inaugural  address  opening  that  fair,  when  he 
remarked  that  there  was  a certain  man  present  who  wants  to  have  the 
credit  for  this  successful  event.  I remember  the  tears  filling  the  eyes 
of  my  wife  at  such  construction  put  on  the  motives  of  my  labors. 

B.  D.  and  T.  F. 

So  also,  in  1908,  on  his  death  bed,  Rev.  Linell  remarked  that  it  was 
here  in  Jamestown  18  years  ago,  in  the  company  of  Englund,  though 
nothing  irrational  in  my  conduct  could  be  detected,  Linell  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  for  the  first  time  that  I was  deranged. 

Thus,  while  Englund ’s  backer  and  patron,  the  former  president  of 
the  New  York  Conference,  since  1900  the  doctor  in  dogmatics,  and 
part  of  this  time  also  vice-president  of  the  school  at  Rock  Island, 
Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg,  paved  the  way  for  conferring  on  the  graduating 
seminarists,  after  my  time,  the  title  B.  D.  to  shine  in  the  records  of 


36 


the  Synod,  to  my  person  there  was  to  be  attached  the  title  T.  F. 
(Thou  Fool). 

This,  in  spite  of  that  there  were  worthy  men  both  before  and  after 
“Anno  Domini  One,”  and  that  when  I pursued  the  noiseless  tenor  of 
my  way  and  in  1892  for  the  second  time  enrolled  as  a student  in  the 
seminary,  it  was  with  the  explicit  understanding  that  I was  not  to  be 
hoodwinked,  but  that  I was  taking  in  every  one  of  the  studies  for  ac- 
quiring the  protection  of  a B.  D.  mark,  and  not  that  kind  of  a di- 
ploma, which,  only  at  the  time  of  my  ordination  reassuringly  declare# 
me  to  be  a graduate  from  the  school,  popped  up  to  be  inadequate  for 
showing  its  face  before  the  uninitiated  public;  and  all  this  though, 
tKrough  strenuous  labors,  and  not  through  syncophancy,  I took  the 
studies  seriously  and  made  myself  worthy  of  the  highest  marks  in 
general  scholarship,  both  in  the  college  and  the  seminary. 

In  the  first  circular,  “For  a Worthy  Cause/ ’ nay,  even  before, 
these  things  were  alluded  to,  but  with  no  other  results  than  that  the 
following  mock  1 1 diploma  ’ ’ was  sent  from  the  boundaries  of  the  Prov- 
idence district,  where  at  that  juncture,  1905,  Englund  was  pastor  at 
Greenwich,  R.  I. : 

Rev.  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren,  Concord,  N.  H. 

Dear  Sir  : With  great  pleasure  I herewith  have  the  honor  of  informing  you 
that  the  faculty  of  Brown  University  has  decided  to  confer  upon  you  the  de- 
gree of  B.  D.  Your  ability  as  a preacher  and  your  immense  knowledge  of 
language  and  sciences  is  widely  known.  Accept,  therefore,  this  degree. 

Ex  officio,  W.  H.  Eustis,  Secretary. 


The  Whining  Mice. 

Thus,  though  there  are  pastors,  who,  as  students  at  the  Synod’s 
school  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  could  enjoy  teasing  and  vexing  the  school 
president’s  demented  son,  until  they  had  him  raving  and  cursing,  and 

yi1  v 

though  there  coarse-grained  natures  of  the  same  type  as  the 

Dutch  priest  of  whom  Professor  Bruggmans  of  Leyden  relates,  that 
he  was  endowed  with  such  great  desire  to  kill  and  see  killed,  that  he 
became  chaplain  of  a regiment  solely  to  have  opportunity  of  seeing 
men  destroyed  in  battle ; and  though  there  must  be  men  in  the  Synod, 
who  would  have  great  satisfaction  to  see  a brother  smashed  and  slain, 
of  course  “in  a mild  form,”  and  not  so  spectacular  as  when,  in  the 
press-devoid  days,  Bishop  Hatto  of  Germany  invited  the  poor  to  lunch 
in  a big  barn,  and,  having  set  on  fire  this  enclosed  and  picketed  place, 
ejaculated,  “Listen  how  the  mice  are  whining!” — yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  and  in  spite  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Anderson’s  assertion  that  I am  whin- 


37 


ing,  it  is  impossible  for  a man  endowed  with  a large  benevolence  and 
conscientiousness  to  not  believe  in  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  that 
the  majority  of  the  brethren  cherish  a good  will  towards  humanity. 
The  whole  race  being  within  the  circle  of  my  affections,  I am  con- 
strained to  prevail  upon  the  sanctuary  to  amend,  as  by  resisting  op- 
pression, atrocities  against  other  human  beings  are  thereby  checked 
and  hindered,  thus  mitigating  the  sufferings  of  bleeding  humanity. 
To  love  mankind  must  be  of  decidedly  more  importance  that  to  love 
the  bossism  of  the  Synod. 

Reasons  for  Sending  Out  the  Second  and  Third  Supplements. 

August  1,  1907,  on  the  strength  of  stretched  reports  from  my  Con- 
cord successor,  Rev.  Norden,  the  following  threatening  letter,  ex 
officio,  arrived  from  the  Boston  District,  Rev.  J.  A.  Bernhard,  of  Ever- 
ett, Mass. : 

Let  me  know  if,  since  you  left  the  congregation  in  Concord,  you  have  joined 
another  Swedish  Lutheran  Augustana  congregation.  Apparently,  you  do  evil 
to  your  children,  to  yourself,  and  to  God’s  work  among  our  people,  by  send- 
ing your  children  to  the  Sunday  school  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Take  a 
brotherly  advice.  . 

As  such  rumors  and  reports  were  apt  to  check  and  retard  the 
forthcoming  of  the  nearly  $1,200  promised  me  by  the  pastors  after  I 
had  sent  out  my  circular  “A  Battle  for  Life,”  with  its  first  supple- 
ment, I hastened  to  send  out  the  second  supplement,  dated  September 
27,  1907,  which  was  referring  to  the  fact  that  my  boys  merely  attended 
the  choir  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  This  supplement  was,  however, 
followed  by  threats  from  the  conference  officials  that  they  will  have 
me  deposed  until  next  general  meeting  of  the  conference  (April,  1908) 
if  I should  dare  to  send  out  any  more  round  robins ; this,  in  spite  of 
a man’s  right  to  defend  himself. 

Complying  herewith,  I waited  still  another  precious  year  for  the 
blacklisted  to  declare  off  the  bush-fight,  and  to  grant  me  the  succor 
needed.  Nevertheless,  according  to  the  Norse  proverb,  that  while 
the  better  man  waits,  the  ugly  one  strikes,  the  blacklisted  seem  to 
have  been  prying  into  every  hole  and  corner  to  hunt  for  evidence 
suitable  for  countenancing  an  official  kick  out  of  my  calling. 

Ignoring  the  explanation  in  my  second  Supplement,  Dr.  Nelsenius, 
the  conference  president,  as  a last  resort,  sticks  like  ivy  to  the  mere 
circumstance  that  two  of  my  sons  attend  the  choir  of  an  Episcopal 
Church.  Neck  or  nothing,  he  dashes  off : 


38 


Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  October  3,  1908. 

Pastor  C.  J.  .4.  Holmgren: 

Please  let  me  know  by  return  mail  if,  since  the  meeting  with  the  conference 
officials  in  Concord,  in  November  last,  you  have  joined  a congregation  be- 
longing to  the  Augustana  Synod,  and  if  you  continue  sending  your  children 
to  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Ex  officio,  G.  Xelsenius, 
President  of  the  Yexc  York  Conference. 

My  reply  to  this  letter  was  that  I was  tied  hands  and  feet,  and 
that  I had  hoped  that  he,  the  president,  would  come  to  the  rescue; 
there  also  being  no  other  Augustana  congregation  in  Concord  except 
the  one  from  which  I had  been  outlawed. 

With  this  intimidating  letter  before  me,  nothing  else  was  left  than 
to  prepare  for  the  coming  blow  by  getting  ready  the  Third  Supple- 
ment to  be  dated  on  Reformation  Day,  October  31,  though  by  some 
mistake  the  ciphers  became  changed  to  21. 

As  had  been  anticipated,  the  following  summons  arrived  on  the  8th 
of  November,  1908 : 

Pastor  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren,  Concord,  N.  H.: 

Whereas  you  have  not  satisfactorily  answered  my  inquiries,  made  in  the 
beginning  of  October,  as  to  if  you  still  are  sending  your  children  to  the 
Episcopal  Church;  and,  as  in  conversation  and  writing  you  still  are  be- 
lying and  raising  injurious  reports  against  your  brethren,  therefore,  you  are 
herewith  summoned  to  appear  before  the  New  York  Conference  officials,  at 
their  meeting  in  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Immanuel  Church  parsonage,  521 
Leonard  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  November  16,  1908.  I enclose  herewith  $10 
for  traveling  expenses. 

Respectfully, 

G.  Nelsenius, 

President  of  the  Yew  York  Conference. 


Star  Chamber  Hearings. 

Thus  I was  summoned  to  attend  another  star  chamber  hearing,  re- 
calling to  my  mind  the  meeting  these  same  officials,  together  with  the 
president  of  the  Boston  District,  Rev.  Bernhard,  held  with  me  in  the 
just  opened  basement  to  dedicate  the  preposterously  enlarged  Con- 
cord church,  which  meeting  was  held  between  9 p.  m.  and  3 a.  m.  No- 
vember 19-20,  1907. 

Though  a post  card  could  have  furnished  them  with  such  irrelative 
items,  Rev.  Norden,  my  Concord  successor,  was  at  that  meeting  al- 
lowed to  kill  the  time  by,  for  instance,  picturing  before  this  tribunal 
articles  some  brethren  had  commissioned  him  to  arrantly  and  de- 
gradingly  buy  for  me  in  the  Concord  stores. 


39 


The  precious  time  was  also  wasted  to  Norden’s  new  accusation  that 
I had  not  more  than  one  book  for  entering  the  ministerial  acts.  It 
was  indeed  a sight  for  a painter  to  see  these  tormentors  put  their  vic- 
tim to  the  rack  for  things  not  pertaining  to  the  issue  to  be  determined. 
This  meeting  had  been  called  to  investigate  my  statements  made  in  my 
circulars,  and  for  nothing  else. 

I told  them,  however,  that  as,  through  the  efforts  of  the  well  paid 
and  protected  Norden,  the  congregation  is  now  the  happy  owner  of 
such  extra  book  in  which  to  enter  the  ministerial  acts,  I am  ready  to 
enter  in  it  all  the  records  that  are  kept  in  my  private  books,  though 
everything  pertaining  to  the  minsterial  acts  performed  by  me  within 
the  parish  can  be  copied  from  the  old  big  book,  in  which  to  my  best 
knowledge  I have  entered  it  all.  Besides  that,  in  the  city  records  is 
filed  everything  of  importance  of  that  nature. 

As  at  my  arrival  in  Concord,  1902,  the  congregation  was  in  debt 
of  over  $1,000,  and  as  my  predecessors  did  not  go  to  the  trouble  to 
make  the  congregation  defray  the  expense  of  a few  dollars  for  such 
an  additional  book,  and  from  the  recent  experiences  I have  had  with 
the  deacons  of  New  Sweden,  Me.,  and  on  account  of  that  the  min- 
isterial blacklisters  were  eagerly  watching  for  chances  to  let  the  air 
ring  with,  that  I have  troubles  wherever  I am ; and  as  even  my  efforts 
to  induce  members  to  pay  their  dues  to  the  missions  and  institutions 
of  the  Synod  and  Conference  met  with  bitter  opposition,  I was  too 
much  in  a hornet’s  nest  to  be  able  to  proceed  as  one  having  the  pre- 
requisite moral  and  financial  backing  to  fulfil  my  calling,  not  to  men- 
tion that  in  these  small  mission  places  and  even  in  larger  parishes  such 
an  extra  book  is  seldom  kept  as  it  ought  to. 

Even  the  parish  treasurer  of  Concord  was  at  this  very  meeting  per- 
mitted to  waste  the  time  by  reading  an  itemized  statement  as  to  how 
much  had  been  paid  out  and  received  each  month.  At  this  he  was, 
however,  omitting  to  refer  to  such  things  as  that,  for  instance,  a mem- 
ber had  asked  me  why  the  collectors  did  not  come  to  her  to  take  up  the 
dues,  she  asking  me  if  I would  receive  it.  Another  member  had  also 
told  me  that  the  collectors  had  not  been  around  yet,  but  that  when 
they  did  come  she  would  tell  them  that  not  a cent  would  come  from 
her  unless  the  pastor  get  it  for  his  running  expenses,  she  evidently  re- 
ferring to  such  facts  that,  for  instance,  the  treasurer  used  my  small 
salary  to  settle  a $100  bank  note  from  the  time  I was  driven  from 
New  Sweden,  Me.,  and  was  unable  to  defray  the  moving  expenses  to 
Concord. 

Nay,  by  the  indirect  aid  of  the  Conference  president,  I was  forced 
to  turn  over  to  settle  on  my  salary  the  $175  I made  on  a lecture  in 


40 


May,  1906,  though  by  right  such  money  ought  to  have  been  used  to 
above  all  assist  me  in  covering  the  heavy  losses  sustained  during  the 
succeeding  lecture  tour  I made  that  same  summer. 

Another  member  of  the  Concord  parish  had  asked  a leader  or  owner 
of  the  parish  why  they  were  against  me,  and  received  as  reply  that 
no  one  can  imagine  what  kind  of  a man  I am,  a reply  tallying  with  a 
similar  answer  a parish  member  of  the  large  Manchester  congregation 
received  when  asking  a leader  why  I,  who  seemed  to  be  such  a fit  man 
to  call  to  the  then  vacant  congregation,  was  not  recommended  by  the 
deacons  of  that  place.  With  no  valid  charges  to  prefer  against  me, 
these  leaders  know  too  well  that  all  that  is  necessary  to  rob  a man  of 
his  chances  is  merely  to  make  him  suspected. 

A Fictitious  Trial. 

At  any  rate,  during  this  nightly  meeting  in  November,  1907,  the 
time  was  not  devoted  to  such  things  as  had  a direct  bearing  on  my 
circular  statements,  where  I had  implored  the  brethren  for  a brother ’s 
hand  and  not  for  disgracing  alms,  so  sure  to  kill  my  chances  of  regain- 
ing a station  on  a par  with  the  bulk  of  the  brethren. 

In  fact,  any  one  familiar  with  church  history  would  claim  that  there 
is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  and  that  this  fictitious  trial  and  the 
other  moves  connected  therewith  tallies  with  the  meeting  of  June 
15,  1405,  when  Magnus  Huss  was  fictitiously  allowed  to  make  his 
vindicatory  speech,  and  the  priests,  by  making  a deafening  noise, 
drowned  the  voice  of  the  martyr,  whose  death-doom  was  precon- 
certed. The  result  of  this  meeting  was  that  the  officials  announced 
that  a real  trial  had  been  held  and  that  my  circular  statements  could 
not  be  maintained  by  me  as  being  true. 

We  all  know  what  the  verdict  will  be  when  a man’s  enemies  are  his 
judges;  and,  for  reasons  plausible  enough  to  every  right-minded  per- 
son, I was  finally  compelled  to  give  up  parleying  with  these  liegemon- 
ical  blacklisted,  who  might  even  take  advantage  of  my  harborless  con- 
dition to  “lovingly  and  deploringly”  place  me  in  some  asylum,  my 
wife  not  being  able  to  stand  even  the  thought  of  my  attending  the 
meeting  to  be  held  in  the  very  camp  of  the  enemy  this  November. 

Thus,  with  these  intimidating  letters  of  October  3 and  November 
8 before  me,  I saw  no  other  way  than  again  to  appeal  to  the  whole 
body  of  ministers  for  an  open  trial.  Consequently  I hurried  to  the 
printing  office  to  get  ready  the  Third  Supplement,  prepared  in  order  to 
escape  being  tried  and  condemned  in  the  dark.  Accordingly,  my 
reply  to  the  Conference  president  was  as  follows : 


41 


Concord,  N.  H.,  November  11,  1908. 
The  Rev.  G.  Nelsenius , D.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.: 

Dear  President  : la  reply  to  your  summons  for  me  to  appear  at  the  meet- 
ing in  your  home  to  face  the  charges  that  I send  my  children  to  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  etc.,  I beg  leave  to  state  that  the  precarious  condition  of  my 
wife  forbids  me  to  attend.  Besides,  I have  just  now  another  circular  ready, 
which  evidently  will  be  of  more  importance  to  consider  than  that  I permit 
my  children  to  sing  under  a prominent  teacher ; this  not  only  free  of  charge, 
but  even  for  some  compensation.  Consequently,  I herewith  return  the  $10 
forwarded.  I do  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  kindly  meet  me  on  the  same 
ground  upon  which  I am  endeavoring  to  prevail,  i.  e.,  before  the  whole  body 
of  ministers.  If  I could  be  assisted  to  attend  a general  meeting  of  the  Synod, 
and  if  all  the  brethren  could  be  present,  then  these  round  robins  would  not 
be  needed.  As  matters  now  stand,  there  is  no  other  way  than  to  make  use 
of  the  printing  press.  May  God  prevail  upon  you  to  conscientiously  and  lov- 
ingly meet  me  on  this  same  arena  of  truth  and  light ! 

With  my  family,  I am  yours  in  the  Lord  gratefully, 

C.  J.  A.  Holmgren. 


CHAPTER  V. 


God  pity  us  all  as  we  jostle  each  other, 

God  pardon  us  all  for  the  triumph  we  feel 
When  a fellow  goes  down  ’neath  his  load  on  the  heather, 
Pierced  to  the  heart.  Words  are  keener  than  steel 
And  mightier  far  for  woe  or  for  w^eal. 

J.  Milleb. 


Devils  Dragging  Away  Their  Own. 

That  this  way  of  proceeding  were  the  only  rational  steps  that  could 
be  taken  is  beyond  a question,  when  also  considering  that  blacklisting 
brethren  had  “ employed”  the  New  Sweden  deacons  to  send  me  to 
Coventry  on  such  inhuman  charges  referred  to  above,  and  then,  next 
in  order,  had  been  exerting  themselves  to  get  the  Concord  deacons  to 
outlaw  me  on  the  charge  of  insanity. 

The  world’s  history  is  crowded  with  examples  that  whenever  it  has 
been  the  object  of  one  individual  to  ruin  another  lunacy  has  been  the 
most  formidable  weapon  employed,  thus  causing  Christ  to  threaten 
that  whosoever  shall  call  his  brother  a fool  shall  be  in  danger  of  the 
hell  of  fire.  In  regard  to  this  demoniacal  sort  of  blacklisting,  an  au- 
thority on  this  question  speaks  out : 

Disordered  reason,  or  witchcraft,  has  been  the  ordinary  accusation  re- 
sorted to,  whenever  it  was  the  object  of  one  individual  to  ruin  another.  In 
cases  of  these  convictions  or  murders  in  the  past,  the  clergy  displayed  the 
most  intemperate  zeal.  It  was  before  them  that  the  poor  wretches  were  first 
brought  for  examination,  in  most  cases  after  a preparatory  course  of  solitary 
confinement.  (So,  also,  Fogelstrom  was  shut  up  in  a to  him  exceedingly 
vexatious  place),  cold,  famine,  want  of  sleep,  or  actual  torture  (so,  without 
any  vacation  whatever,  and  seldom  having  had  time  to  sit  down  to  meals,  as 
others  do,  I have  now  for  years  worked  at  least  17  hours  a day). 

On  some  occasions  the  clergy  themselves  actually  performed  the  part  of 
prickers,  and  inserted  long  pins  into  the  flesh  of  the  victims,  in  order  to  try 
their  insensibility  (the  acts  perpetrated  against  me  are  partly  related  in  still 
unprinted  manuscripts),  and,  in  all  cases,  they  labored  with  the  most  per- 
severing investigations  to  obtain  from  the  accused  a confession  which  after- 
wards may  be  used  against  them  in  their  trial,  and  which,  in  more  than  one 
case,  formed,  though  retracted,  the  sole  evidence  in  which  the  conviction  took 
place.  (The  tactics  of  my  blacklisted  having  been  also  to  deprive  me  of 
the  requisite  moral  and  financial  backing,  and  then  to  disgrace  me  for  non- 
support of  my  family,  and  as  one  receiving  alms  and  charities.)  So  little 
light  seemed  the  Bible  to  afford  them  regarding  the  atrocities  against  witches, 


43 


that  the  Secession  Church  of  Scotland,  comprising  many  intelligent  clergy- 
men and  a large  number  of  the  most  serious  and  religious  of  people,  com- 
plained, in  the  Annual  Confession  of  personal  and  national  sins  (printed  in 
an  act  of  their  Associated  Pesbytery  at  Edinburgh  in  1743),  “of  the  penal 
statutes  against  witches  having  been  repealed  by  the  parliament,  contrary 
to  the  express  law  of  God.”  The  public  was  so  familiarized  with  such  atro- 
cious scenes,  that  it  relished  and  gloried  in  them ; singing  the  cants  of  them 
in  popular  airs,  and  representing  them  in  hideous  engravings,  with  devils 
dragging  away  “their  own,”  while  the  clergy  preached  solemn  discourses,  called 
witch  sermons,  upon  occasion  of  every  sacrifice,  the  effect  of  which  was,  of 
course,  to  inspire  fresh  zeal  to  collect  fuel  for  another. 

Realizing  that  the  Concord  parish  owners  were  suborned  to  lend  a 
hand  in  drawing  a cordon  around  me,  I warned  them,  though  in  vain, 
that  before  God  we  are  looked  upon  as  murderers,  even  if  we  do  not 
plunge  a knife  through  the  victim. 

Notwithstanding  all  such  entreaties  and  assurances  that  God  is  on 
my  side,  in  1906  their  moves  gradually  waxed  so  bold-faced  that  the 
father  of  several  of  the  Concord  leaders  related  to  my  wife  that  once 
in  the  church  I had  acted  as  a lunatic.  Unlike  Mrs.  Fogelstrom,  who, 
according  to  Fogelstrom ’s  pamphlet,  “In  Perils  Among  False  Breth- 
ren,” remained  at  Thorsby  while  his  “kidnappers”  induced  him  to 
accompany  them  to  Omaha,  my  wife  could  respond  that,  though  such 
reports  would  have  frightened  her  terribly,  she  is  not  a bit  afraid,  as 
she  herself  was  present  at  that  very  time  and  therefore  knows  it  to  be 
a big  lie.  “Ah,  was  Mrs.  Holmgren  in  the  church,  too,  at  that 
time1?”  exclaimed  the  old  man  abashed,  he  having  himself  been  ab- 
sent at  that  meeting. 

In  connection  with  this,  it  may  here  be  reminded  that,  while  trav- 
eling i-w  Augustana  pastors  are  directing  strangers  f 

attention  to'Nliat  I am  demented!* 

A Shrewd  Move. 

Even  one  of  these  pastors,  Rev.  Aslev  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  has  his 
name  used  as  seal  to  the  following  action  taken  by  the  Concord 
deacons,  which,  addressed  to  the  pastors  of  the  Boston  District,  was 
no  doubt  one  of  the  prime  reasons  or  moves  for  robbing  me  of  the  ap- 
portionment from  the  mission  board,  which  board,  for  instance,  in 
1908  awards  my  successor,  Norden,  $300,  in  spite  of  that  the  Confer- 
ence is  fast  losing  ground  and  influence  in  Concord,*  the  congrega- 
tion being  also  brought  into  a debt  of  nearly  $3,000: 

* Certain  pastors  claim  that  my  presence  in  Concord  is  the  cause  of  Norden’s  failure; 
but  would  it  not  be  as  reasonable  to  blame  me  for  the  fact  that,  according  to  statistics, 
Norden’s  previous  congregation,  in  Minnesota,  dwindled  one  third  in  about  two  years,  dur- 
ing which  he  had  charge  of  the  place? 


44 


West  Concord,  N.  H.,  March  3,  10#6. 
Rev.  J.  A.  Bernhard,  Everett . Mass.: 

Because  of  certain  disturbances  in  our  congregation,  or  rather  between  the 
congregation  and  the  pastor,  we  wish  to  appeal  to  the  Boston  District  for  as- 
sistance to  clear  up  this  matter  as  soon  as  possible.  We  have  written  to  the 
conference  president  and  he  has  also  been  here,  but  it  seems  as  if  his  visit 
has  not  brought  about  the  intended  effect,  because,  instead  of  getting  better, 
it  is  growing  worse  every  day  that  goes.  The  circumstance  is  such  that 
something  must  be  done  at  once,  and  what  we  want  the  district  to  do  is  to 
see  to  it  that  things  be  pushed  before  anything  serious  takes  place.  Indeed, 
it  seems  to  he  true  that  Pastor  Holmgren  is  not  always  accountable  for  his 
actions,  and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  make  haste  in  getting  Pastor  Holm- 
gren removed  from  here,  as  the  welfare  of  the  congregation  and  of  Holm- 
gren demands  it.  Pastor  Aslev  may  defer  to  render  a more  thorough-going 
account  as  to  the  real  facts. 

(Signed)  


Send  letter  to . 

As  at  one  occasion  one  of  the  signers  of  this  petition  wept  like 
Petrus  at  the  coal  fire  and  also  voted  against  the  eighteen  men,  who, 
in  the  summer  of  1906  congregated  to  vote  me  out  of  the  congregation 
and  the  ministry ; and  as  this  so  taciturn  deacon  no  doubt  was  carried 
away  at  seeing  the  name  of  Aslev  in  this  petition;  and  as  members 
have  stated  that  the  leaders  in  Concord  would  never  have  dared  to  do 
what  they  did  if  Aslev,  etc.,  had  not  been  backing  it  up;  and  as  in 
cases  of  this  nature  the  hegemonical  blacklisters  among  the  ministers 
are  the  most  blameworthy  in  this  connection,  I omit  the  names  of  the 
signers,  as  well  as  that  of  Concord’s  Svea  correspondent,  who,  with  his 
two  brothers  and  his  family,  has  even  abandoned  the  Synod  and 
joined  the  Baptists. 

That  in  these  cases  so  much  depends  on  the  attitude  of  ministerial 
leaders,  teachers  in  morals  and  religion,  is  also  evident  from  what  I 
experienced,  for  instance,  in  1888,  when  during  the  summer  vacation, 
as  a student  of  the  Synod’s  college  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  I had  been 
commissioned  to  assist  Rev.  G.  0.  Gustafson  of  Varna,  111.,  as  preacher 
and  school  teacher. 

Having  finished  my  first  day  in  the  parochial  summer  school,  an 
aged  man  entered  the  school-room,  and,  having  expressed  his  great 
joy  at  having  a student  preacher  during  the  summer,  he  at  once  began 
to  denounce  his  pastor  as  being  such  a hasty  man,  full  of  wrath,  white 
in  anger,  etc.,  and  that  there*  was  a general  ill  feeling  against  him. 

“Come,”!  replied,  “at  first  let  us  go  in  the  church  and  pray  for 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  before  we  proceed  any  further.  ’ ’ 


45 


When  we  rose  from  the  prayer,  this  aged  man  trembled  like  an 
aspen  leaf,  and  left  me  without  complaining  any  more. 

In  a letter  to  my  friend,  the  American  professor  in  mathematics  at 
the  Synod’s  school,  Dr.  A.  W.  Williamson,  the  son  of  a renowned  mis- 
sionary among  the  Indians,  and  who  had  prevented  me  from  leaving 
the  school  in  disgust,  I also  mentioned  the  deplorable  hatred  I had  no- 
ticed against  this  pastor.  In  his  reply  to  me,  Doctor  Williamson  said : 

I trust  you  will  bear  with  me  as  a friend  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  all 
allusions  to  any  past  dissatisfaction  with  Pastor  Gustafson,  who  is  a most 
worthy  man  and  was  for  a long  time  eminently  popular  at  Varna. 

It  is  often  the  case  that  one,  going  to  a place  under  the  circumstances 
you  did,  would  suppose  three  fourths  at  least  against  a man,  when  the  dissat- 
isfaction in  the  church  itself  is  almost  confined  to  those  he  talks  with,  and 
to  irreligious  people  not  connected  with  the  congregation,  also,  slanderers 
are  usually  flatterers. 

I do  not  think  it  likely  that  without  caution  you  would  say  anything  that 
would  do  any  serious  harm  if  it  stopped  with  the  one  who  said  it;  but  I do 
know  that  in  talking  with  the  class  of  people  who  most  like  to  talk  on  such 
subjects,  words  said,  that  could  not  possibly  in  the  slightest  degree  have 
either  hurt  the  feelings  of  the  one  concerning  whom  I spoke  them,  have 
been  turned  and  warped  and  twisted  till  they  became  the  most  outrageous 
mischief-breeding  slanders.  “Where  there  is  no  tale-bearer  the  strife  ceas- 
eth.”  I thank  God  you  have  done  so  much  to  allay  the  strife,  and  pray 
God  that  he  will  help  you  to  so  improve  the  experiences  to  add  to  your  prac- 
tical ability  in  managing  a congregation,  and  also  to  practically  forget  these 
things  except  in  the  few  cases  where  they  may  be  useful. 

When  closing  my  labors  that  summer,  I had  the  great  satisfaction 
to  witness  that,  even  in  that  parish,  where  about  half  of  the  people 
were  related,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  raise  the  salary  of  the  pas- 
tor. 

A few  years  later,  however,  Doctor  Williamson’s  words  became  true 
the  opposite  way.  From  the  reports  received,  the  people  then  drove 
away  its  pastor  by  the  aid  of  the  student,  then  commissioned  to  them, 
during  a subsequent  summer  vacation;  and  while  Rev.  Gustafson  is 
moving  out  of  the  parsonage,  in  an  adjoining  yard,  a band  plays  joy- 
ful airs  and  the  student  “tale-bearer”  is  carried  in  triumph  on  the 
arms  of  the  people. 

As  also,  according  to  President  Roosevelt,  people  are  so  apt  to  pass 
judgment  upon  a man,  not  with  reference  to  whether  he  is  a fit  or  un- 
fit public  servant,  but  with  reference  to  whether  he  is  an  executive  or 
legislative  officer,  there  is  no  wonder  that  here  in  Concord  such  bold 
moves  of  the  deacons,  humored  and  carried  away  by  ministerial  bosses, 
robbed  me  of  even  the  repute  and  respectability  that  was  indispensable 
for  my  movements  and  progress  among  the  Concord  parishioners  and 


46 


people  in  general,  though,  in  spite  of  this,  I kept  on  taking  in  new 
members.  For  a fact,  there  is  hardly  any  doubt  but  that  Rev.  Aslev, 
Norden  and  other  errand-boys  of  the  ring,  had  never  met  with  such  a 
ready  response,  here  in  Concord  and  in  New  Sweden,  to  their  shrewd 
attempts  to  collect  evidences  to  countenance  an  official  kick  out  of  my 
calling  in  life  if  they,  these  ministerial  blacklisters,  had  not  acted  as 
if  they  were  merely  catering  to  personal  selfish  interests  of  the  parish- 
owners  of  these  places.  For  my  part,  I respect  a widow  or  a mother 
when  wanting  herself  or  her  daughters  married  to  good  men ; and  I 
also  admit  that  many  of  our  small  congregations  are  unable  to  sup- 
port a family  of  a minister.  Students,  and  occasionally  an  unmar- 
ried pastor,  are  the  ones  that  ought  to  tend  to  such  small  parishes, 
whence  rumors  now  and  then  spread  like  wildfire  that  certain  students 
have  selected  their  brides  from  these  small  mission  places  wherein  they 
labored  during  the  summer  vacation.  On  the  other  hand,  I own,  that 
even  this  method  is  apt  to  be  abused  in  more  than  one  way.  So,  for 
instance,  Elizabeth  Towne,  the  editor  of  Nautilus,  writes  a girl,  upon 
whose  feelings  some  emotional  evangelist  had  been  playing,  that  such 
evangelists  aim  to  play  on  the  feelings  of  every  girl  or  woman  in  the 
congregation  he  4 ‘ exhorts,  ’ ’ and  that  she  has  let  her  feelings  go  out  to 
the  evangelist  himself  instead  of  directing  it  toward  the  Christ  he 
tried  to  preach.  This  same  editor  also  asserts  “that  there  ought  to  be 
a law  against  young  and  good-looking  men  going  around  as  evangel- 
ists ; but  if  there  were,  the  evangelist  business  would  quickly  go  out  of 
fashion  for  lack  of  converts.” 

Insanity  Commissioners. 

Pleading  as  an  excuse  that  I had  taken  care  of  the  above  mentioned 
New  Sweden  cattle,  Rev.  J.  A.  Anderson  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  a former 
vice-president  of  the  New  York  Conference,  has  spread  out  that  I am 
xm worthy  of  a brother’s  hand,  and  that  for  such  reasons  he  had  dis- 
missed me  from  a position,  with  reference  to  which  Doctor  Nelsenius 
wrote  to  me,  May  9,  1904 : 

I am  glad  that  the  Boston  Immigrant  Board  has  extended  a call  to  you 
to  solicit  funds  for  the  home.  Thereby  you  are  enabled  to  chiefly  further 
an  important  mission,  and  at  the  same  time  help  up  your  own  finances. 

That  this  was  needed  is  evident  even  from  the  statement  of  one  of 
our  ministers,  who  wrote  me  that  with  the  income  I have  it  cannot  be 
possible  for  me  not  to  sink  in  debt.  A man  without  money  is  as  a ship 
without  sails,  or,  as  George  Eliot  says,  “It  is  hard  to  be  wise  on  an 


47 


empty  stomach.”  Such  things  ought  to  be  considered  by  a man  who, 
like  Anderson,  by  brethren  in  the  denominational  papers  of  the  Synod 
is  advertised  as  “our  righteous  and  venerable  brother,  J.  Alf.  An- 
derson.” 

Still,  after  having  devoted  days  and  nights  and  money  in  pre- 
parations for  this  work  as  solicitor  for  the  immigrant  home,  and  hav- 
ing just  begun  the  actual  canvass  and  received  a few  checks,  I was  ab- 
ruptly cut  short  (another  reason  for  sending  out  my  first  circular), 
causing  Doctor  Nelsenius  to  write : 

I am  sorry  the  Boston  Immigrant  Board  did  not  remain  faithful  in  its 
dealings  with  you.  But  I do  hope  that  they  will  change  their  minds  and 
decision. 

According  to  certain  mental  science,  this  Anderson  may  belong  to 
the  coarse-grained  natures  who  care  little  for  the  happiness  of  man 
and  the  animal  creation ; and  therefore  he  may  not  see  any  sanity  in 
a person  overflowing  with  sympathy  and  goodness,  and  that  such  may 
look  silly  to  him.  But  as  all  men  are  liable  to  fail  in  their  judgment, 
he  ought  therefore  to-  leave  to  the  owner  of  the  cattle,  or  else  to  an 
expert  insanity  or  criminal  board,  to  decide  in  cases  of  this  nature. 

The  rules  of  ethics  says  here  that  the  principle  by  which  we  are  to 
test  our  own  motives,  in  speaking  of  that  which  may  harm  others,  is 
this: 

When  we  utter  anything  which  will  harm  another,  and  we  do  it  either  with- 
out cause  or  with  pleasure,  or  thoughtlessly,  we  are  guilty  of  calumny.  When 
we  do  it  with  pain  and  sorrow  for  the  offender,  and  from  the  sincere  motive 
of  protecting  the  innocent,  of  promoting  the  ends  of  public  justice,  or  for  the 
good  of  the  offender  himself,  and  speak  of  it  only  to  such  persons  and  in  such 
manner  as  is  consistent  wdth  these  ends,  we  may  speak  of  the  evil  actions  of 
others,  and  yet  be  wholly  innocent  of  calumny. 

Though  we  pray  with  Christ,  Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do,  it  is  nevertheless  our  Christian  duty  to  declare 
against  that  ministers  of  the  Gospel  should  constitute  insanity  boards, 
with  power  to  ruin  the  lives  and  homes  of  their  fellow  men,  as  it 
is  to  meddle  with  things  belonging  to  other  professions.  For  such 
reasons  I consider  them  having  trespassed  upon  other  callings,  when, 
according  to  a letter  from  Rev.  L.  J.  Fihn  of  Minnesota,  brethren  in 
his  district  are  claiming  that  I am  of  an  unbalanced  mind  and  that 
such  is  incurable,  etc. 

I am  well  aware  that  the  blacklisted  are  watching  every  move  I 
make,  so  as  to  search  for  any  dark  spots  on  me  on  which  to  throw  the 
limelight  of  publicity,  so  as  to  make  the  public  join  in  the  chorus 


48 


“Crucify  him!”  From  previous  incidents  in  the  history  of  mankind 
I also  know  what  childish,  trivial  charges  have  made  the  public  follow 
the  guidance  from  the  sanctuary..  So.  for  instance,  when  in  1716,  at 
Huntingdon,  England,  a Mrs.  Hicks  and  her  daughter,  aged  nine, 
were  hanged  for  selling  their  souls  to  the  devil  and  raising  a storm  by 
pulling  off  their  stockings  and  making  a lather  of  soap.  Nay,  a cen- 
tury before  that  time,  in  Geneva,  for  instance,  within  three  months 
five  hundred  witches  were  burned.  I know,  for  instance,  how  in  my 
own  ease  the  promised  aid  of  nearly  $1,200,  to  the  great  disappoint- 
ment of  my  creditors,  did  not  come,  half  of  it  even,  merely  because 
such  reports  were  afloat  that  I send  two  of  my  boys  to  the  Episcopal 
Sunday  school.  From  such  and  similar  experiences  I know  that  these 
blacklisters  will  not  cease  from  retarding  and  hindering  the  forth- 
coming of  the  succor  I need,  which  needs  cannot  be  filled  with  even  the 
full  amount  of  the  nearly  $1,200  the  ministers  promised  me  in  1907. 
And  as  the  years  are  continuously  rolling  by,  and  as  postponements  af- 
ter postponements  are  being  made,  I wish  I could  include  in  this  little 
book  everything  the  blacklisters  would  possibly  make  use  of  as  means 
for  drawing  out  the  time,  and  smothering  me  from  mere  exhaustion, 
before  all  my  hairs  grow  white. 

From  certain  information  given  me,  I am  led  to  believe  that  these 
persecutors  intend  to  jump  on  me  for  living  in  a big  house. 

To  this,  I must  say  that  during  our  first  year  in  Concord  we  lived  in 
a damp  tenement,  causing  much  sickness  in  the  family.  Therefore, 
in  the  fall  of  1903,  while  my  wife  was  in  the  hospital  to  be  operated 
upon,  the  leading  member  of  the  congregation,  Mr.  Lindquist,  in- 
formed me  that  the  house  I now  have  was  empty,  and  that  it  was  a 
good  place  for  me. 

As  Mrs.  Holmgren,  as  a convalescent,  was  very  weak,  and  as  it  was 
hard  for  us  to  keep  servants  all  the  time,  I went  to  the  hospital  to 
cheer  her  up  with  the  promise  that,  while  we  wait  for  the  ministers  to 
get  us  a substantial  charge  to  move  to,  she  shall  live  in  a house  free 
from  dampness,  and  with  hot  and  cold  water,  to  save  her  from  too 
much  pain  and  work  while  doing  her  washing,  etc. 

Moreover,  I was  promised  the  place  at  $13  a month,  besides  the 
privilege  of  tearing  down  the  big  old  barn  and  cutting  down  several 
big  trees  for  fuel. 

If  my  persecutors  had  not  chased  me  so  hotly,  keeping  me  busy  to 
ward  off  the  blows  they  aimed  at  me,  I would  have  had  a chance  to 
make  use  of  the  fuel  thus  afforded  me.  As  things  went,  I only  had  a 
chance  to  cut  down  one  of  the  trees,  wdiich  furnished  fuel  for  one  of 

-i*  • 

our  stoves  during  one  winter. 


49 


Meanwhile  the  actions  of  ministers  of  the  Synod  made  me  expect  a 
call  from  Concord  any  minute.  Consequently,  when  I asked  for  an- 
other tenement,  the  owner  would  ask  if  we  intended  to  live  in  it 
any  length  of  time,  whereupon  we  had  to  respond  that  very  likely  we 
shall  have  to  move  within  a month  or  two,  several  boxes  of  my  books, 
etc.,  being  already  packed,  etc.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  a land- 
lord, who  has  just  painted  and  papered  a tenement,  hesitates  to  take  in 
such  a large  family  as  mine,  even  if  such  family  moves  in  with  the 
intention  to  stay. 

Withal,  having  now  lived  such  length  of  time  in  our  present  home, 
our  landlord  has  been  willing  to  wait  for  months  for  the  house  rent, 
something  a new  landlord  could  not  be  expected  to  do,  especially  as  he 
would  not  know  the  circumstances  of  our  present  exigency. 

Besides  this,  we  have  been  able  to  raise  squabs,  chickens,  etc.,  in 
the  barn  and  there  are  many  other  reasons  why  we  have  kept  on  liv- 
ing here,  which  reasons  will  be  brought  forth  later  on,  if  necessary. 

Another  thing,  these  blacklisters  may  use  to  throw  dirt  at  me,  and 
use  as  an  excuse  for  taking  my  scalp,  would  probably  be  my  relation 
to  Dr.  M.  J.  Englund  and  his  chums  with  reference  to  the  liquor  ques- 
tion. Therefore  I consider  it  necessary  to  even  delve  at  once  into  this 
matter. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


When  the  state  is  most  corrupt,  then  the  laws  are  most  multiplied. 

Tacitus. 

Social  evil  has  its  root  in  the  individual  heart,  and  cannot  be  removed  ex- 
cept by  influences  operating  within  -it.  This  fountain  of  man’s  corruption 
must  be  purified  to  correct  social  vice. 

Professor  Seelye. 

Dr.  Englund,  etc.,  and  the  Brewers,  etc. 

In  1900,  soon  after  my  arrival  from  Minnesota  to  Newport,  R.  I., 
Doctor  Englund,  who  was  then  pastor  in  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  advised  me 
to  go  to  a large  wine  and  grocery  house  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  to  buy 
wine  and  beer  so  as  to  accommodate  myself  to  his  and  his  chums’ 
wdshes  to  have  my  Newport  home  as  a welcome  retreat,  rendering  it 
easier  for  him  to  avoid  provoking  certain  people,  as,  for  instance, 
in  1900,  at  a meeting  of  the  Providence  District  at  Pontiac,  R.  I.,  a 
man  rose  and  laid  upon  the  hearts  of  the  assembled  pastors  how  hard 
it  is  to  work  against  intemperance  when  people  retort  that  they  are 
finding  Englund  so  regularly  and  frequently  drinking  in  a certain 
saloon  in  Providence. 

As  my  wife  and  I are  almost  teetotalers  and  never  spent  any  money 
for  these  things  except  for  medicinal  use,  we  had  a long  consultation 
as  to  what  course  we  ought  to  follow. 

In  not  being  too  exacting,  and  keeping  before  our  minds  how  the 
Lutheran  theologians  of  old  used  to  discuss  weighty  questions  by  a 
mug  of  beer,  we  thought  it  would  be  a judicious  move  to  comply  with 
the  express  wishes  of  Englund,  especially  as  my  wife  would  much 
rather  see  them  taste  of  the  milder  beverages  than  of  the  hard  drinks, 
otherwise  carried  and  preferred  by  some  of  these  brethren. 

In  this,  we  thought  that  no  judicious  person  could  stigmatize  us, 
especially  as  men  like  Seth  Low,  Bishop  Potter,  President  Eliot  of 
Harvard  (yet  in  the  prime  of  his  life),  Professor  Chittenden  of  Yale, 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  and  the  rest  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty  of  the 
most  eminent  men  of  our  land,  who  made  a most  valuable,  important 
and  exhaustive  investigation  of  all  phases  of  the  liquor  question,  pub- 
lished : 

That  the  great  change  for  the  better  in  the  habits  of  the  people,  this  gen- 
eral recognition  and  observance  of  the  law  of  temperance,  which  is  peculiar 


51 


to  our  own  times,  is  to  be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  greatly  increased  use  of 
mild  fermented  beverages,  lager  beer,  ale  and  wine,  and  the  marked  falling 
off  in  the  consumption  of  distilled  liquors. 

Furthermore,  as  my  wife  and  I had  so  often  heard  this  Englund 
eiticised  and  talked  about  in  the  homes  of  our  ministers,  even  in  the 
presence  of  members  of  the  parishes  (on  account  of  his  drunkenness), 
we  could  not  but  think  of  statements  similar  to  what  eminent  scientists 
are  giving  out,  such  as  this,  for  instance : 

Since  it  is  indisputable  that  the  desire  for  stimulants  is  the  strongest  im- 
planted in  the  breast  of  man,  since  he  has  demanded  it,  and  has  procured  it 
in  spite  of  prohibitory  laws  ever  since  the  days  of  Noah,  is  it  not  far  better 
that  he  should  be  supplied  with  and  be  encouraged  to  drink  the  beverage 
containing  the  smallest  amount  of  alcohol  and  one  which  is  at  once  healthful 
and  harmless? 

My  wife,  children  and  I were,  furthermore,  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
this  Englund  and  chums,  of  whom  one,  the  pastor  in  Providence,  now 
professor  at  Augustana  College,  Rev.  Kjellstrand,  is  a chum  of  the 
influential  Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg,  who,  as  a student  for  the  ministry, 
boarded  in  the  home  of  Kjellstrand ’s  parents  at  Paxton,  111. 

By  the  way,  it  is  evident  to  me  that  in  order  to  assist  this  Kjell- 
strand to  be  on  good  terms  with  his  most  prominent  parish  leaders,  the 
two  contractors  who  had  built  the  Newport  temple,  I had  been  in- 
duced to  abandon  my  prosperous  condition  in  1899  to  hurry  to  New- 
port and  solicit  money  among  the  millionaires  to  pay  off  the  church 
debt  to  these  contractors,  Rev.  K.  K.  Broberg,  now  returned  to  Sweden, 
but  then  secretary  of  the  New  York  Conference,  having  unscrup- 
ulously delivered  up  my  private  inquiry  or  query  into  the  hands  of 
the  Conference  president,  Doctor  Ahlquist,  who,  as  a chum  of  the 
chums,  used  it  as  an  unconditional  application  for  the  place ; and  who 
stirred  me  to  go  two  miles  with  them  (S.  Matthew  5 : 41),  merely  to 
become  a kind  of  “savior’ ’ upon  whom  to  throw  their  “iniquity.” 

This  same  Broberg  is  recently  by  Doctor  Beck  awarded  a title  A.  B., 
evidently  to  assist  him  from  “troubles,”  as  such  a degree  is  indis- 
pensable to  one  seeking  a position  as  rector  in  Sweden. 

Contemporaneously,  while  my  degree  is  still  a T.  F.,  Thou  Fool, 
Englund  himself  is  lifted  into  one  of  the  two  editors’  chairs  of  our 
Synod’s  denominational  paper,  Augustana,  and  in  connection  here- 
with assisted  to  a D.  D. — degree  or  title. 

Englund  as  ‘ ‘ Teetotaler.  ’ ’ 

Now  this  denominational  paper,  Augustana,  is  full  of  articles  dis- 
playing what  a champion  it  is  against  the  saloons,  etc.  So,  for  in- 


52 


stance,  in  a February  issue,  of  this  year,  we  read  among  other  hot 
stuff : 

The  saloon  dives  are  first  of  all  the  abodes  of  crime,  where  socialism  and 
anarchy  have  free  scope  to  promulgate  their  to  the  community  so  dangerous 
doctrines;  and  where  crimes  are  planned,  and  vices  committed  and  praised. 
There  is  often  laid  the  penny  which  should  have  given  decent  clothes  and 
brighter  homes  to  the  wife  and  children.  The  crime  bags  the  money;  while 
the  saloon-keeper’s  wife  displays  in  silk,  brilliants,  etc*.,  and  his  children 
make  a display  as  little  princes  and  princesses,  etc. 

In  1900,  at  a district  meeting  in  Pontiac,  R.  I.,  I had  been  appointed 
to  preach  one  of  the  evenings,  and  just  a little  before  we,  the  ministers, 
were  about  to  leave  the  parsonage  for  the  church  that  night  Englund 
had  stowed  away  my  satchel,  containing  the  outline  of  my  sermon. 
While  in  the  church,  I hurriedly  scribbled  down  another  emergency 
outline.  It  was  a sight  to  see  how  Englund  watched  my  movements. 
A few  years  afterwards,  a pastor  reported  that  Englund  has  stated 
that  (though  I had  not  tasted  any  liquor)  I was  so  drunk  that  even- 
ing that  I had  put  on  three  ministerial  collars,  instead  of  one. 

When  at  that  time  he  could  see  so  many  collars  on  me,  I cannot 
but  think  that  with  reference  to  the  wives  and  children  of  the  saloon- 
keepers mentioned  in  the  above  article  from  a February  number  of 
August  ana  he  has  seen  things  without  discrimination.  For  my 
part,  I cannot  remember  that  I have  seen  more  than  five  saloon-keep- 
ers’ wives  and  children  here  in  America. 

Of  these  one  was  a near  relative  of  the  recently  deceased  Rev. 
Sjoblom  of  Minnesota.  I confirmed  one  of  this  noble  woman’s 
daughters,  and  both  she  and  her  children,  as  well  as  those  of  the  other 
wives  of  saloon-keepers  I have  seen,  have  all  been  dressed  in  the 
simplest  of  clothes,  and  I cannot  recollect  that  I have  seen  any  bril- 
liants on  them ; nay,  it  seems  to  me  that  they  looked  much  plainer  than 
the  members  of  other  families. 

Nevertheless,  I admit  that  perhaps  Englund  has  seen  more  of  these 
wives  and  children  than  I have,  but  even  if  such  are  dressed  in  silk, 
etc.,  I know  that  there  are  lots  others  dressed  in  silk,  and  that  there 
are  millions  who  never  visit  the  saloons  and  yet  are  poor  and  ragged, 
just  as  in  the  Mohammedan  countries,  where  for  thirteen  hundred 
years  they  have  practised  prohibition,  still  we  find  that  among  these 
brutal,  women-oppressing  people  there  are  some  dressed  in  silk,  etc., 
while  the  great  masses,  like  the  by  them  oppressed  and  persecuted 
Armenians,  are  in  rags  and  stripped  bare. 

For  my  own  part,  after  30  years  of  the  most  strenuous  endeavors 
to  work  for  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  welfare  of  mankind,  I 


53 


find  the  condition  of  my  home  worse* than  many  a drunkard’s,  while 
my  relentless  persecuting  brethren  in  the  ministry  are  nicely  floating 
or  tiding  over  this  financial  crisis.  Yea,  it  is  related  in  one  of  the 
circulars  of  the  Rock  Island  Tropical  Company,  selling  shares  at  half 
price  ($100),  that  one  of  the  editors  of  Augustana,  who  went  to  Mex- 
ico to  look  over  the  property,  has  bought  25  shares.  And  I am  quite 
sure  that  from  the  tobacco  that  Englund,  or  my  successor  in  Concord, 
Rev.  Norden,  are  annually  consuming,  there  would  be  money  to  buy 
silk  for  their  respective  wives.  So,  there  must  be  others  than  saloon 
keepers  who  can  afford  to  wear  silk  and  brilliants. 

More  than  that,  when  I consider  how  futile  my  efforts  have  been 
to  receive  human  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  ministerial  black- 
listers,  and  thus  thinking  of  the  experiences  I have  myself  made,  I 
am  strongly  reminded  of  the  words  of  Prof.  W.  A.  Wyckoff,  famous 
for  his  first-hand  studies  of  social  conditions.  He  states : 

It  is  a serious  mistake  to  suppose  that  saloon  keepers  as  a class  are  bent 
upon  the  destruction  of  their  fellowmen  and  callous  to  any  appeal  for  help 
from  their  victims.  They  are  often  men  of  quite  singular  practical  helpful- 
ness to  the  people  about  them. 

The  Committee  of  the  Fifty,  well-known  worthy  men  in  America, 
devotes  a special  volume  to  the  subject,  “Substitutes  for  the  Saloon.” 
It  concedes  that  “The  saloon  is  the  poor  man’s  club  in  that  it  offers 
him,  with  much  that  is  undoubtedly  injurious,  a measure  of  fellow- 
ship and  recreation  for  which  he  would  look  elsewhere  in  vain.  The 
laboring  man  out  of  employment  knows  that  in  some  saloons  he  is 
likely  not  only  to  find  temporary  relief  but  assistance  in  finding 
work.  . . . Many  a man  has  been  put  on  his  feet  by  just  this 

kind  of  help.” 

To  corroborate  this  statement,  I myself  know  of  a happy  family  in 
Chicago  lifted  up  through  the  husband’s  association  with  the  saloon. 
Some  25  years  ago  this  man  had  merely  $9  a week,  but  was  told  that 
he  ought  to  be  able  to  drive  a nail  straight  through  a board  and 
become  a carpenter.  He  was  at  once  assisted  to  a job  on  a building, 
and  from  that  day  on  he  has  earned  from  $3  to  $3.50  a day;  and 
more  than  once  his  happy  wife  and  growing  family  have  expressed 
their  conviction  that  none  of  the  members  of  the  congregation  they 
belong  to  would  have  thought  of  being  such  a chum  as  to  raise  a fel- 
low up  in  such  a practical  and  friendly  sort  o’  way. 

On  the  other  hand,  I know  of  a hard-working  girl  in  one  of  our 
great  cities  telling  me  that  she  had  saved  several  hundred  dollars 
from  years  of  hard  work  in  the  sweat  shops  of  that  city.  Afraid  to 


54 


trust  her  money  to  any  of  the  banks,  she  asked  the  treasurer  of  the 
congregation  she  belonged  to  if  she  could  be  allowed  to  have  her 
money  stored  in  the  safe  of  that  sanctuary.  When  this  treasurer 
left  for  the  West,  she  could  not  recover  her  money. 

From  such  and  thousands  of  similar  incidents,  it  seems  to  me  that 
teachers  in  morals  and  religion  have  a great  responsibility  when  we 
direct  man’s  love  of  destructiveness,  so  that  we  do  not  use  witches, 
saloons,  etc.,  as  lightning  rods  to  switch  off  the  strokes  that  should 
be  directed  to  the  root  of  the  evil.  Nay,  we  ought  to  take  to  heart 
the  words  of  the  “winebibber  and  the  friend  of  the  publicans  and 
sinners,”  who  says  of  the  scribes  and  the  pharisees: 

But  in  vain  they  do  worship  me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments 
of  men.  For  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  for- 
nications, thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies : These  are  the  things  which 
defile  a man. 

But  with  reference  to  wine,  he  says : tV 

“Neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles : else  the  bottles  break,  and 
the  wine  runneth  out,  and  the  bottles  perish : but  they  put  new  wine  into  new 
bottles,  and  both  are  preserved.” 

Would  it,  therefore,  not  be  better  if  we  could  pray  God  that  He 
would  speed  the  day,  when  the  habitual  drunkards,  the  family  min- 
ers, who  abuse  the  stuff  sold  to  them  in  the  saloons,  clubs,  drug  stores, 
etc.,  may  be  proclaimed  as  subjects  to  a form  of  madness  and  dealt 
with  accordingly;  but,  also,  that  the  habitual  bigots,  fanatics,  cruel 
tyrants  and  criminals  of  the  sanctuary  be  dealt  with  in  the  same 
manner  ? 

Instead  of  therefore  sitting  in  an  easy  chair  and  getting  hold  of 
someone  upon  whom  to  direct  man’s  love  of  destructiveness  and  dis- 
gust, and  instead  of  thus  cleaning  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  of  the 
platter  and  to  merely  appear  righteous  unto  men,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  make  these  two  places,  the  saloon  and  the  sanctuary,  clean, 
orderly  and  decent  places  from  the  inside.  This  is  Christ’s  method. 
He  endeavored  to  create  a new  heart  in  man.  His  method  was  love. 

A Whole  Conference  Forbids  Its  Pastors  and  Members  to  Re- 
ceive any  Gifts  from  the  Saloon-Keepers  and  Brewers. 

A few  months  ago,  I visited  Manchester,  and,  while  in  one  of  the 
big  blocks  of  that  city,  entered  every  one  of  the  doctors’  and  lawyers’1 
offices  to  solicit  and  sell  a magazine  to  get  funds  for  disseminating 
good,  wholesome,  Moody-spirited  literature  and  reading.  In  one  of 


55 


the  offices  there  happened  to  be  an  agent  of  one  of  the  New  England 
breweries,  and  he  asked  me  to  accept  $25  for  the  good  cause.  I 
looked  upon  the  man  as  a ‘‘good  Samaritan”  finding  the  poor  man 
on  the  Jericho  road,  where  the  priest  and  the  Levite  had  left  him 
bleeding.  I accepted  the  gift  and  said,  ‘ ‘ Thank  you,  sir.  ’ ’ 

What  a shock  to  me  when,  in  the  papers,  it  is  now  reported  that 
one  of  our  great  conferences,  comprising  about  200  pastors,  has  now 
passed  a resolution  forbidding  pastors  and  churches  to  receive  any 
gifts  from  brewers  and  saloon-keepers ! 

As  a student  for  the  ministry,  during  the  summer  of  1890,  in  that 
same  conference,  I assisted  Rev.  J.  G.  Hultkrans  of  Brainerd,  Minn. ; 
and  one  day  he  asked  me  to  wait  on  the  sidewalk  while  he  stepped 
into  a saloon  to  ask  for  money  for  his  church.  And  while  he  was 
in  there  and  received  his  contribution,  I had  occasion  to  consider  the 
role  the  use  of  liquors  has  had  with  reference  to  responsibility  for 
crime.  To  be  fair,  I could  not  but  admit  that  both  in  the  Bible  and 
in  the  world’s  history,  liquor  occupies  a minor  role. 

Adam’s  ambition,  Cain’s  jealousy,  David’s  lust  and  covetousness, 
Sodom’s  and  Gomorrha’s  sin,  Judas’  covetousness  were  and  are  the 
preeminent  causes  of  crimes,  and  the  fall  of  nations  as  that  of  Rome, 
Greece,  etc. 

If,  therefore,  my  blacklisting  bosses  are  on  the  alert  to  use  as  evi- 
dences against  me,  that  I have  accepted  such  gifts,  I may  rightly  ask 
why,  then,  does  our  Synod’s  official  organ,  Augustana,  in  laudable 
terms  recently  mention  that  a saloon  keeper  in  Sweden  has  just  do- 
nated some  precious  articles  to  the  big  cathedral  of  Skara,  Sweden? 
Nay,  I claim,  that  in  such  moves  against  me,  the  blacklisted  have  the 
whole  weight  of  the  Bible  against  them;  where  it  says  that,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  time  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  people  are  commanded 
to  pay  one  tenth  of  the  wine  they  produce  to  the  church.  If  God 
favored  prohibition,  He  would,  furthermore,  never  have  allowed  to 
be  recorded  that  the  Son  of  Man  manufactured  wine  at  the  marriage 
feast,  and  that  St.  Paul  directly  commands  one  of  his  colleagues, 
Timothy,  to  use  wine  with  his  meals. 

For  such  reasons,  the  Lutheran  pastor  at  Anderson,  Ind.,  the  Rev. 
Richard  Eirich,  asserts,  that  people  pretending  to  be  Christians  make 
out  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  a criminal  by  their  claims  that  the 
making,  drinking  and  distributing  of  wine,  beer  and  like  beverages, 
is  wrong. 

The  great  reformer,  Pastor  Parkhurst  of  New  York,  also  declares : 


56 


I am  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  more  wine  there  is  produced  in 
this  country  and  the  more  freely  it  is  transported  from  state  to  state  the  less 
whiskey  will  be  used,  and  the  smaller  amount  of  drunkenness. 

Nay,  Bishop  Neely  of  Maine,  says: 

The  clubs  are  simply  coteries  of  young  men  who  call  themselves  clubs  and 
get  together  and  have  their  bottles  in  their  closets.  I am  sure  these  clubs 
have  a very  bad  effect,  in  that  young  men  who  never  drank  at  all  previously 
have  done  so  in  the  secrecy  of  the  club,  as  they  call  it;  they  would  not  be 
seen  to  drink  over  a bar,  but  they  do  it  in  the  club  rooms. 

Consequently,  Bishop  Clark  of  Rhode  Island  claims,  that  prohibi- 
tion has  been  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  temperance. 

Another  bishop,  Hall  of  Vermont,  asserts,  “That  prohibition  drives 
underground  the  mischiefs  which  it  seeks  to  cure,  making  it  more 
difficult  to  deal  with  the  evil  and  impossible  to  regulate  the  trade,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  quality  of  liquor  sold.” 

Cardinal  Gibbons,  furthermore,  reminds  us: 

We  might  profitably  learn  a lesson  from  the  old  cities  of  Europe,  which  for 
2,000  years  have  been  agitating  this  question.  There  is  not  a single  city  in 
Great  Britain,  Ireland  or  on  the  Continent  which  attempts  to  prohibit  by  law 
the  sale  of  liquor.  They  have  learned  from  a long  experience  that  the  best 
method  of  regulating  this  article  of  commerce  is  to  impose  licenses  to  main- 
tain good  order  for  the  protection  of  the  citizens  and  to  punish  the  violators 
of  the  law. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


The  Lord  is  good,  a stronghold  in  the  day 
that  put  their  trust  in  him. 


of  trouble;  and  he  knoweth  them 
Nahum  1:  7. 


Henceforth  my  heart  shall  sigh  no  more 
For  olden  time  and  holier  store ; 

God’s  love  and  blessing;  then  and  there, 

And  now,  and  here,  and  everywhere. 

Whittier. 


The  Anglican  Church. 

Withal,  as  to  the  charge  that  I permit  two  of  my  sons  to  attend  the 
choir  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  I am  still  owing  Rev.  J.  K.  Tibbits, 
of  the  St.  Timothy  Episcopal  Church,  $25. 

Moreover,  in  November,  1906,  when  almost  on  the  verge  of  despair, 
my  family  was  cheered  by  a visit  from  Rev.  Tibbits  ’ deaconess,  find- 
ing my  home  without  food,  fuel,  etc.,  Mrs.  Holmgren  in  bed,  she  hav- 
ing finally  collapsed  under  the  untold  agonies  she  had  been  subjected 
to,  while  her  faith  in  the  angeldom  of  ministers  was  shaken,  and  we 
were  blacklisted  and  robbed  out  of  our  belongings.  And,  thus, 
through  Rev.  Tibbits,  a lift  was  given  me  for  that  moment. 

When  her  son  told  Mrs.  Holmgren  of  Rev.  Tibbits  inviting  him 
to  join  the  new  choir  of  St.  Timothy’s  Church,  to  be  instructed  by 
an  expert  teacher  from  Oxford,  England,  she  was  exceedingly  happy 
to  find  her  depressed  son’s  thoughts  led  into  other  channels,  the  boy 
and  the  rest  of  the  children  having  suffered  intensely  on  account  of 
the  atrocities  perpetrated  against  us. 

On  account  of  the  precarious  condition  of  my  wife,  nervous  pros- 
tration, I did  not  venture  to  perturb  her  or  to  object  on  the  ground 
that  relentless  blacklisted  would  here  make  a whale  out  of  a her- 
ring, and,  as  they  did  with  reference  to  my  human  treatment  of  the 
New  Sweden  cattle,  they  will  have  me  arraigned  for  heresy  or  demen- 
tia, for  letting  the  boys  attend  a choir,  where  boys  from  different  de- 
nominations convene  to  cultivate  their  voices,  something  my  children 
also  are  in  great  need  of,  as,  since  having  abandoned  a prosperous 
charge  in  Minnesota,  the  family  has  been  reduced  gradually  to  pen- 
ury and  want,  so  that  we  can  hardly  keep  from  shivering  during  the 
cold  winter  nights,  much  less  keep  a piano,  organ,  music  teachers,  etc. 


58 


Owing  to  the  previous  revolting  experiences,  it  would  also  have  been 
a most  difficult  task  to  persuade  the  children  to  associate  with  any 
church  whatever,  if,  being  expelled  and  expugned  by  the  “ Lutheran’ ’ 
synagogue  and  insanity  commission,  on  the  top  of  it  all,  they  should 
be  made  to  understand  that  other  churches  were  still  worse.  There- 
fore, it  seemed  to  be  necessary  to  let  the  children  understand  that 
we  ought  at  least  to  look  for  the  brotherhood  of  man  wherever  there 
is  a chance.  Besides,  during  my  school  days  at  Rock  Island,  111., 
the  students  were  allowed  to  attend  services  even  in  a Presbyterian 
church.  So,  I felt  comparatively  safe  that  the  boys  attended  a choir 
belonging  to  a church,  concerning  which,  in  the  17th  century,  one 
of  the  most  renowned  bishops  of  Sweden,  J.  Swedberg,  stated  that  he 
wished  the  Swedish  clergy,  at  that  time  laboring  among  the  new  set- 
tlers at  Delaware,  to  associate  and  cooperate  with  the  Anglican  clergy. 
Moreover,  at  a recent  visit  in  America,  a prominent  rector  from 
Sweden  was  the  guest  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  still,  at  his 
return  to  Sweden,  he  was  not  deprived  of  his  tenure  of  office,  and  this, 
in  spite  of  that  Rev.  Englund,  of  our  Synod’s  organ,  has  time  and 
again  written  articles  for  the  press,  denouncing  the  Episcopal  Church 
for  using  false  pretences,  when  getting  Swedes  to  join  that  church. 

It  may  here  also  be  proper  to  mention  that  my  boys  know  how 
rectors  of  the  Episcopal  Church  have  taken  a proper  stand  as  over 
against  what  we  have  been  subjected  to.  So,  for  instance,  with  ref- 
erence to  the  war  recently  held  between  the  deacons  of  the  old  his- 
toric First  Congregational  Church  of  Springfield,  111.,  and  the  pas- 
tor, Rev.  Dr.  Frank  Luther  Goodspeed,  an  Episcopal  rector  of  St. 
George’s  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Dr.  Richmond,  writes  in  a Spring- 
field  paper: 

The  cheapest  and  meanest  men  he  ever  met  were  New  England  church  dea- 
cons. The  honorable  influence  and  distinguished  service  of  Rev.  Dr.  Good- 
speed  are  known  far  and  wide.  No  charges  have  ever  been  presented  against 
his  doctrinal  views  or  moral  behavior.  The  pews  are  full  on  Sundays.  The 
finances  are  in  as  good  a condition  as  in  most  large  parishes  passing  through 
a financial  stringency.  Therefore,  what  is  the  trouble?  We  ask,  of  course, 
as  a priest  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  believing  as  I do  that  Congregation- 
alism, as  well  as  the  so-called  Protestantism  is  slowly  breaking  up  and  crumb- 
ling into  a moral  decay,  I can  see  in  this  church  row  a sign  of  the  approaching 
decline.  Perhaps  I am  wrong,  but  I think  I am  right. 

About  the  meanest  and  cheapest  men  I ever  met  were  New  England  church 
deacons.  In  a horse  trade  look  out,  and  if  you  have  a pretty  wife  be  careful. 
They  are  poor  weak  men  like  the  rest  of  humanity,  no  better  and  often  worse. 

With  reference  to  my  own  case,  it  is  also,  according  to  the  Bible, 
my  duty  to  provide  for  my  own,  in  every  way  still  left  open  to  me; 


59 


and  if  the  boys  can  earn  a little  by  their  singing,  it  is  better  to  do  it 
in  a church  than  in  a theater,  as  one  of  them  was  offered  to  do.  Mrs. 
Holmgren’s  health  is  also  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  my  family; 
and  it  would  not  be  Christian  to  increase  her  agonies,  and  to  risk 
a breakdown  again,  should  I manifest  an  overdone  carking  and  un- 
nerved anxiety  with  reference  to  the  blacklisted  ’ insidious  bigotry. 
Not  long  ago  she  was  in  bed  again,  and  when  such  happens,  I am  en- 
tirely tied  to  the  home. 

In  this  connection  we  may  also  mention  another  thing  giving  credit 
to  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  The  Lutheran  we  read  the  following 
article,  “Another  Forward  Movement”: 

This  time  it  is  in  behalf  of  an  underpaid  clergy.  In  good  brotherly  fashion, 
the  more  favored  members  of  the  Episcopal  Diocese  of  New  York  have  agreed 
to  help  the  less  favored.  “Metropolitan”  on  another  page  gives  an  interesting 
account  of  how  this  came  to  pass.  The  Presbyterians  in  the  western  part  of 
Pennsylvania  had  agitated  this  matter  before,  as  was  reported  in  The  Luth- 
eran. To  people  living  in  the  country,  or  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns,  it 
might  seem  that  $1,200  and  parsonage  were  quite  a respectable  provision,  for 
do  not  the  great  majority  of  self-respecting  people  live  on  less  than  that?  But 
they  forget  that  if  a pastor  in  most  cities  desires  to'  live  as  nearly  all  the  con- 
gregations and  missions  want  him  to  live,  a miracle  must  be  performed  which 
most  pastors  are  not  equal  to.  In  the  case  of  our  missionaries,  in  both  the 
larger  and  smaller  cities,  it  has  always  seemed  to  us  that  the  miracle  came 
nearer  being  performed,  for  how  some  of  them  manage  to  look  as  respectable 
as  they  do  we  have  never  been  able  to  explain.  They  must  be  feeding  on  the 
hidden  manna  somewhere.  The  words  of  the  Episcopal  rector,  who  urged  the 
new  departure  have  something  sensible  and  convincing  about  them.  He  said: 
“A  man  cannot  do  good  work  when  he  is  harassed  by  bills  he  cannot  pay, 
and  when  his  wife  and  children  are  suffering.  I put  this  resolution  on  the 
basis  of  pure  mercy,  since  the  burden  of  inadequate  compensation  falls  not 
on  the  broad  shoulders  of  the  curates  themselves,  but  upon  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  clergy.”  This  same  movement  has  long  been  overdue  in  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

Nay,  you  having  even  .recently  passed  a resolution  that  no  pastor 
over  50  is  permitted  to  the  Ministers’  Aid  Association.  A 

big  joke  on  me,  who  is  not  given  a chance  to  join  it  in  the  prime 
of  my  years. 


Large  Professions  and  Little  Deeds. 

Do  you  not,  my  hegemonical  blacklisted,  live  in  the  profusion  of 
plenty,  but  have  no  compassion,  and  suffer  myself  to  beg  my  bread 
at  your  door,  and  to  crave  it  as  it  were  an  alms,  what  before  God  you 
are  bound  to  supply? 

In  loving  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the  cause  you  profess 


60 


to  be  yours,  in  1899,  I capitulated  from  a prosperous  charge,  and  from 
an  income  adequate  to  meet  all  my  needs.  I have  undespairingly 
delivered  myself  and  family  in  your  hands;  but  you  have  no  com- 
passion, though  I have  constantly  strained  myself  to  do  the  most  good 
to  the  church  and  the  people. 

Does  it  behoove  confessed  disciples  of  Christ  to  abhor  a brother 
merely  because  you  divine  him  to  be  in  possession  of  such  a heart 
that  if  you  were  in  his  position  and  he  in  yours  he  would  not  only 
use  the  stocks  and  bonds  so  many  of  you  are  prosperously  dealing  in, 
but  even  the  last  penny  to  succor  you? 

Just  consider,  while  I am  speaking  to  you  as  a brother  in  the  open, 
you  are  from  behind,  on  my  back,  tabooing  me  out  of  my  belongings. 
And  why  should  you  hate  me?  Because  I do  not  want  that  my  and 
other  victims’  blood  shall  be  on  you;  the  Spirit  of  Truth  and  Love 
striving  to  make  brethren  of  humanity,  and  desiring  that  the  world 
shall  see  that  there  is  salt  in  the  church?  Ought  not  disciples  of  Christ 
to  take  to  heart  the  rebuke  of  President  Roosevelt,  that  wealth-get- 
ting becomes  a crime,  when  they  obtain  it  by  the  sale  of  all  their  finer 
instincts,  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  character,  by  the  violation  of  the 
laws  of  the  nation,  and  by  the  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  others  to 
the  pursuit  of  liberty  and  happiness  ? 

The  church  cannot  conceal  its  doings;  the  world  knows  the  occu- 
pations of  teachers  in  morals  and  religion.  But  the  world  does  not 
know  that  ecclesiactical  bosses  and  blacklisters  can  repent  and  grow 
in  grace.  Does  not  Judge  Burke  of  Chicago  affirm  that  the  great 
masses  of  the  people  are  alienated  from  the  churches,  because  the 
wedge  of  gold  is  hidden  in  them?  Does  not  even  the  Northwestern 
Advocate  aver  that  many  official  members  never  participate  actively 
in  the  aggressive  spiritual  work  of  the  church;  such  religious  and 
moral  condition  boding  no  good;  and  could  not  be  so,  if  the  laity 
and  clergy  were  living  according  to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ? 

God  give  us  men.  The  time  demands 

Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith  and  willing  hands ; 

* * * * * 

Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 
In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking. 

For  while  the  rabble  with  their  thumb-worn  creeds, 

Their  large  professions  and  their  little  deeds 
Mingle  in  selfish  strife,  lo,  Freedom  weeps! 

Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  justice  sleeps. 


61 


Instead  of  corroborating  that  darkness  and  love  of  unrighteous- 
ness in  the  church  has  often  caused  persecution  against  those  who 
love  the  truth ; and,  instead  of  instilling  the  people  to  assist  in  ‘ ‘ mur- 
dering ” and  outlawing  a brother,  would  it  not  be  proper  and  human 
to  take  to  heart  the  words  of  the  Scriptures  in  Deut.  27 : 18 : 1 ‘ Cursed 
be  he  that  maketh  the  blind  to  wander  out  of  the  way.  And  all  the 
people  shall  say,  Amen.” 

Christianity  versus  Mohammedanism. 

Indeed,  it  would  be  far  better  to  take  to  heart  even  the  words  of 
rebuke  from  Emperor  William  to  missionaries: 

During  my  visit  to  the  holy  places  and  to  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  in- 
stitutions of  Palestine  I met  with  one  disappointment  after  another.  Here,  in 
the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  which  ought  to  serve  as  an  example  of  pious  char- 
ity and  a pure  Christian  life,  I meet  the  very  reverse  of  charity  and  Christi- 
anity. 

I am  not  surprised  that  Christianity  remains  unpopular  in  the  Orient,  and 
that  Mohammedanism,  with  its  fallacious  teachings,  still  holds  sway.  How 
can  it  he  otherwise,  when  you  clergymen  are  everlastingly  quarrelling  over 
dogmatic  questions,  neglecting  to  teach  true  Christian  charity  and  a pure  life 
in  emulation  of  Christ  Jesus? 

I admonish  every  one  of  you  to  repent  of  your  life  of  callous  indifference 
and  cold  formal  worship.  Leave  the  ways  of  the  old  church  and  enter  at 
once  upon  the  higher  and  broader  principles  of  the  new  Christianity,  which 
seems  to  live  as  much  as  possible  in  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  I warn  you 
that  unless  you  do  this  you  will  exert  but  little  influence  on  the  Moham- 
medans, and  you  will  blight  the  hopes  of  your  brethren  who  have  sent  you 
here  as  missionaries. 

In  editorial  comment  on  these  utterances  The  Lutheran  Observer 
of  Philadelphia  says: 

Here  is  a king  who  knows  what  is  the  chief  business  of  a Christian  ministry, 
and  who  tells  it  plainly.  It  would  be  well  if  the  kaiser  were  to  deliver  a sim- 
ilar rebuke  to  the  quarrelsome  dogmatizers  in  Germany  and  in  this  country, 
where  it  is  quite  as  much  needed  as  among  the  Lutheran  missionaries  in  Pal- 
estine and  other  dominions  of  the  sultan.  By  their  dogmatic  intolerance  and 
quarrels  about  speculative  non-essentials,  they  distract  the  church,  and  alien- 
ate the  people  from  Christianity. 

The  Mote  and  the  Beam. 

Therefore,  as  to  a brother’s  sanity  and  standing,  would  it  not  be 
well  if  teachers  in  morals  and  religion  would  pursue  a human  and 
Christian  course  of  action,  and  grant  a brother  in  a predicament  a 
fair  trial?  Does  not  Christ  declare,  “Why  beholdest  thou  the  mote 


62 


that  is  your  brother’s  eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine 
own  eye  ? ” 

When,  for  instance,  in  1904,  hegemonical  brethren  disgracefully 
deprived  me  of  a good  extra  income,  they  retorted  that  a mote  had 
been  detected  in  my  eye  for  having  manifested  a charitable  spirit 
towards  the  New  Sweden  cattle  and  their  owners.  In  condemning 
me  for  such,  do  these  coarse-grained  faultfinders  really  think  that 
all  humanity,  even  the  more  fine-grained  division,  would  side  with 
them  in  such  verdict?  Or,  do  they  think  that  nothing  can  be  found 
in  their  own  eyes,  enough  to  provoke  God  to  let  them  be  subjected 
to  the  same  inhuman  treatment  they  have  brought  me  and  family 
under  ? 

Indeed,  what  are  these  absurd  and  “ childish”  charges  you  prefer 
against  me,  if,  for  instance,  compared  to  what  took  place  while  Eng- 
lund  was  still  superintendent  of-  the  Orphans’  Home  at  Jamestown, 
N.  Y.  ? 

In  those  days,  Sater,  now  pastor  at  Bessemer,  Mich.,  on  a visit  to 
Minnesota,  stayed  one  night  in  my  home  at  Tracy,  Minn. ; and,  unno- 
ticed by  me,  he  then  and  there  made  use  of  my  “letter-heads”  for 
writing  down  some  grave  accusations  against  Englund. 

Informed  of  this,  I strongly  protested;  and  I also  implored  Sater 
to  weigh  the  matter  more,  and  to  remember  that,  may  be,  Englund 
was  on  the  verge  of  repenting,  and  would  act  accordingly. 

From  what  was  reported  later  on,  Sater,  however,  brought  the  mat- 
ter before  the  New  York  Conference,  where  one  of  the  minor  items,  I 
even  had  ridiculed  Sater  for  using  at  all,  was  taken  up  at  first ; where- 
upon Englund  brought  forth  witnesses,  proving  that  Mrs.  Sater,  the 
former  nurse  at  the  Orphans’  Home,  was  wrong.  At  that  juncture, 
one  of  the  pastors  moved  that  the  whole  thing  be  dropped,  which 
motion  was  carried. 

Even  if  you  think  you  have  a right  to  expect  more  from  me,  hav- 
ing spent  years  and  years  in  schools  to  prepare  for  my  calling  in  life ; 
still,  the  punishment  you  suffer  me  to  taste,  on  account  of  imaginary 
wrongs,  are  altogether  too  much  out  of  proportion  to  the  honor  and 
esteem  these  two  men  are  assisted  to;  though  either  the  one  or  the 
other  must  have  been  guilty  of  an  offense  of  the  most  grave  nature. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in 
us.  If  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  righteous  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 

1 John  1 : 9. 


Troubles  and  Mistakes. 

And  as  to  troubles  you  claim  that  I have  had,  and  for  which  you 
throw  stones  at  me,  have  you  never  had  any?  Take,  for  instance, 
you,  Brother  Zetterstrand,  pastor  at  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  and  secretary 
of  the  conference,  and  by  Dr.  Beck  recently  awarded  the  title  of  Doc- 
tor, and  who  as  a conference  official  is  on  the  verge  of  or  on  the  spring 
to  disgracefully  discharge  or  depose  me  from  my  belongings,  were 
you  yourself  not  in  trouble  a few  years  ago,  when,  according  to  the 
reports  from  the  Synod’s  school,  indignant  students  made  you  resign 
from  the  position  as  teacher  in  Swedish  language  and  to  recoil  into 
the  ministry? 

And  as  to  mistakes  have  you  never  made  any?  Don’t  you  think 
it  possible  for  God  to  develop  your  natural  endowments  to  that 
extent  that  you  will  consider  your  treatment  of  me  20  years  ago  a 
mistake,  when,  as  a seminary  student,  you  was  used  by  Dr.  Lindberg’s 
chum,  Rev.  C.  M.  Esbjorn,  to  assist  as  teacher  in  the  Swedish  lan- 
guage? By  being  invested  with  .full  power  to  examine  the  freshmen 
students  and  to  determine  their  marks,  you  had  full  liberty  to  sup- 
ply aid  to  Rev.  Esbjorn  in  his  work  to  dishearten  me,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  other  professors’  endeavors  to  cheer  me  to  persevere 
in  preparing  for  the  ministry,  which  cheer,  for  instance,  consisted 
in  that  a professor,  a man  of  old  Yankee  stock,  Dr.  Williamson,  in- 
stilled me  to  not  let  certain  incivility  and  unfriendliness  I was  sub- 
jected to,  prey  on  my  heart.;  it  being,  he  said,  merely  due  to  envious- 
ness that  I met  such  incivility. 

Do  you,  Zetterstrand,  remember  how  once  in  the  class  room  of  the 
freshman  class,  where  Rev.  Esbjorn,  the  curator,  at  my  arrival  at  Rock 
Island,  floutingly  had  placed  me,  ordered  me  to  parse  a Swedish  sen- 
tence ? But,  on  the  strength  of  your  previously  made  express  declara- 
tion that  the  students  ’ marks  will  entirely  depend  upon  the  final  exam- 
ination, and,  as  on  my  own  hook,  at  that  very  time,  I had  delved  into 
some  extra  work  in  American  history  and  language,  contingently  re- 


64 


quiring  all  the  time  available,  I begged  to  be  exempted  from  parsing 
in  the  class,  as  it  was  14  years  since  I had  passed  through  these  fresh- 
man studies,  concerning  which  I promised  to  rub  off  the  rust  a day  or 
two  before  the  final  decisive  examination.  Nevertheless,  you  insisted 
upon  this  class  room  display,  evincing  what  is  apt  to  get  out  of  one’s 
head  after  so  many  years,  especially  in  a subject  never  used  in  daily 
life. 

Then,  contrary  to  established  custom,  when,  at  the  close  of  the  term, 
the  final  test  had  been  made,  you  did  not  return  the  papers,  thereby 
retaining  all  in  darkness  as  to  whether  I had  succeeded  in  rubbing  off 
the  rust,  and  if  I was  entitled  to  a 100  mark.  Oscar  Benson,  a 
minister’s  son,  now  deceased,  claimed,  however,  that  he  had  been  up 
in  your  room  and  had  been  permitted  to  see  the  papers,  and  that  my 
answers  were  all  correct;  contrary  to  the  comparatively  very  low 
mark  awarded  me  in  the  class  certificate.  Though,  in  those  days, 
my  favorite  author  wTas  Thomas  a Kempis,  it  was,  nevertheless,  diffi- 
cult for  me  not  to  ponder  over  that  you  yourself  had  made  a mistake 
in  thus  treating  your  pupil. 

And  as  to  you,  Rev.  Norrby,  the  treasurer  of  the  conference,  and 
who,  as  another  of  the  four  officials,  is  on  the  spring  to  get  your  har- 
borless brother  blackballed  and  utterly  degraded,  do  you  never  make 
mistakes  ? 

When,  in  that  dark  and  dreary  night  between  November  19-20, 
1907,  you  reprimanded  that  exceptionally  good  woman,  Mrs.  Holm- 
gren, for  not  submitting  to  the  wrongdoers,  and  for  not  belonging  to 
and  siding  with  the  Concord  synagogue  and  insanity  commission ; 
when  you  thus  made  that  benign  Elizabeth  quiver  under  your  home- 
thrusts,  you  may  not  have  thought  that  you  made  a mistake. 

However,  if  you  could  have  followed  that  sympathizing  soul  from 
her  childhood  up,  how  incessantly  she  has  sacrificed  every  comfort  and 
every  penny  for  the  cause  of  church  and  humanity,  yea,  defended  and 
cheered  her  pastors,  who,  with  incomes  of  over  $2,500  a year,  hardly 
had  any  conception  of  what  those  willing  hands  and  that  sacrificing 
heart  did  for  them,  while,  as  a member  of  churches  in  the  West,  she 
often  had  an  income  barely  enough  to  keep  her  alive,  all  in  order  to  be 
able  to  assist  others.  If  you  could  have  followed  this  heroic  Chris- 
tian soul  struggling  and  denying  herself  to  assist  the  sick  and  the 
suffering,  etc.,  till  in  her  later  years,  with  her  husband  and  chil- 
dren, she  has  faithfully  and  trustingly  borne  up  under  the  inhumani- 
ties and  cruelties  unrelenting  blacklisted  have  subjected  her  home  to, 
— you  would  then,  perhaps,  find  that  your  selfishness  will  capitulate 


65 


to  your  conscientiousness  and  benevolence,  so  that,  even  in  this  life, 
you  may  go  far  enough  to  ask  for  forgiveness  for  those  cruel  reviles 
in  that  dismal  night,  when  you  cast  the  reproaches,  merely  because 
she  had  taken  the  only  Christian  step  a loving  Christian  could  take 
against  the  enemies  of  Christ,  the  real  Christ,  who  even  in  former 
ages  was  expelled  from  the  synagogue,  that  even  a Paul  had  to  leave 
and  go  to  the  Gentiles  to  teach  them,  that  true  worshipers  shall  wor- 
ship the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

And  even  if  you,  Norrby,  thereby  have  earned  the  favor  of  Aslev, 
that  he,  as  patron  and  friend,  got  you  an  adulatory  call  from  the 
Lowell  parish,  to  be  vacated  by  Aslev  in  April,  no  doubt  there  will 
come  a time  when  such  victory  will  weigh  on  your  soul  as  the  Judas 
money  crushed  that  poor  disciple;  else  there  would  be  no  balance 
in  the  universe. 


“Do  Not  Envy  the  Oppressor!” 

And  as  to  you,  Rev.  Aslev,  my  neighbor  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  do  you 
never  make  a mistake?  True  enough,  as  a profound  natural  phil- 
osopher and  thinker,  you  have  a cognizance  of  that  under  our  sys- 
tem, the  supercilious  hegemonical  brethren,  though  practical  and  per- 
ceptive men,  are,  nevertheless,  deficiently  developed  in  the  reflective 
faculties,  and  thus,  as  the  famous  Charles  the  Twelfth,  easily  duped 
and  lacking  the  gift  of  discriminating  between  real  and  fictitious 
friends,  etc.,  their  minds  chiefly  dwelling  on  mere  outer  things. 

You  may  thus  have  cognizance  of  that  by  flattering  one  class  of 
brethren  and  by  slandering  another,  especially  those  so  engrossed  in 
pure  humanitarian  work  as  to  neglect  to  look  after  their  own  safety, 
it  is  possible  for  even  comparatively  uneducated  ministers  to  secure 
the  fattest  of  charges,  as  often  as  they  are  driven  to  resign,  as,  Rev. 
Jacobson  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  already  a couple  of  years  ago  rela- 
ted, that  provoked  members  of  the  humbler  class  at  Lowell  pressed 
you  to  erect  the  scaffolding  for  leaving,  and  securing  another  call,  you 
now  have  received  from  Lemont,  111. 

In  1902,  at  the  time  I was  shrewdly  brushed  aside  from  my  un- 
questioned splendid  chance  of  securing  for  myself  this  Lowell  con- 
gregation, you  fold  me  that  a long  time  ago,  while  you  still  were  out 
West,  you  had  received  a promise  to  get  this  parish  by  Dr.  Beck, 
whose  near  relative  at  that  time  was  the  leading  member  of  that 
parish.  At  this  juncture,  you  also  courted  the  favor  of  Rev.  Jacob- 
son, who  made  the  decisive  move  at  the  meeting  when  you  received 
the  call.  A move,  concerning  which,  Rev.  Linell  told  me  how  pro- 


66 


yoked  he  had  been,  while  in  a steam  car,  hearing  you  and  Jacobson 
speak  as  if  God  had  nothing  to  do  when  it  matters  calling  a pastor 
to  a congregation. 

In  those  very  days,  you  must  have  courted  even  the  favor  of  the 
president  of  the  Boston  District,  the  aged  Rev.  C.  F.  Johansson  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  who,  by  recommending  the  otherwise  jilted  or  rejected 
Rev.  J.  P.  Dahleen  to  take  my  place  as  temporary  acting  pastor  at 
Lowell,  deprived  me  of  an  excellent  opportunity  of  securing  that 
call,  instead  of  you,  and  concerning  which  one  of  the  conference  offi- 
cials, Rev.  G.  E.  Forsberg,  wrote  to  me  on  November  13,  1902: 

Johansson’s  course  of  proceedings  is  an  insult  to  our  entire  clergy  and 
especially  to  the  brethren  of  the  Boston  District.  It  cannot  but  arouse  the 
deepest  anguish,  indignation  and  harm  in  the  heart  of  every  right-minded  pas- 
tor, etc. 

After  having  secured  this  parish,  Rev.  Jacobson  and  his  wife  relate 
that  once  you  came  to  their  home  and  told  the  tale  that  I am  never 
at  home  attending  the  meetings  of  the  Concord  sewing  circle;  some- 
thing Jacobson,  however,  told  you  to  be  a big  lie. 

Merely  judging  from  this  incident,  it  is  evident  that  your  methods 
are  always  the  same:  flattery  and  calumny.  To  corroborate  this,  in 
His  providential  care,  God  also  granted  me  a testimonial  already 
from  the  time  you  wrere  a temporary  student  at  Rock  Island,  111. 
This  testimonial  is  Rev.  Nordstrom’s  letter  to  me,  which  letter  I beg 
leave  to  here  remind  you  of : 

Woodhull,  III.,  June  23,  1892. 

Dear  Brother  Holmgren: 

I was  very  much  grieved  and  provoked,  having  read  Swenson’s  letter  to 
Erikson,  and  what  is  most  of  all  provoking  is  that  this  Erikson,  who,  by  the 
way,  is  a subdolous  and  evil-minded  personality,  has  read  the  letter  to  some 
of  his  schoolmates,  at  the  same  time  passing  the  remarks  that  I had  cheated 
him  of  $24;  and  what  most  of  all  is  preying  on  my  mind  is  that  he  did  not 
turn  to  me  to  find  out  about  the  matter;  but  it  came  to  my  knowledge  through 
Aslev,  who  is  just  ordained. 

Fraternally, 

A.  M.  Nordstrom. 

True  enough,  this  Erickson  is,  under  another  name,  laboring  as 
a minister  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  he  being  comparatively  unharmed 
by  your  methods  of  working. 

At  all  events,  does  not,  at  least  at  times,  your  deficiently  developed 
conscientiousness  prevail  upon  your  very  large  reflectives,  so  that 
your  intellect  compels  you  to  admit  that  it  is  a mistake  to  not  talk 
to  the  brethren,  instead  of  talking  of  them?  Your  exceptionally  large 


67 


intellect  ought  at  least  in  brighter  moments  compel  you  to  think  that, 
after  all,  there  must  be  a balance  in  universum,  even  if  your  fine 
reflectives  and  perceptive®  are  not  balanced  by  an  equally  fine  consci- 
entiousness, making  your  tears  resemble  crocodile  tears  instead  of  a 
brother’s,  and  making  you  come  under  the  smarting  sentence  of 
Cowper’s  assertion: 

I would  not  number  among  my  list  of  friends,  though  gifted  with  fine  man- 
ners and  good  sense,  the  man  who’d  needlessly  set  foot  on  a worm. 

Nay,  have  you  never  noticed  the  words  of  Solomon  ? ‘ ‘ Do  not  envy 

the  oppressor ! ■ ’ — words  signifying  that  victories  and  trophies  gained 
by  such  methods  are  of  no  lasting  value,  and  a big  mistake  to  go  after. 

“One  Flesh  of  Men,  and  Another  Flesh  of  Beasts.” 

And  as  to  you  all,  brethren  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  no  matter  if 
it  would  be  wrong  to  expect  that  the  present  day  disciples  of  Christ 
should  be  such  a select  and  picked  body,  that  only  every  twelfth 
would  be  a Judas,  etc.,  and  no  matter  if  even  that  splendid  first  set 
of  disciples  in  the  critical  moment  began  to  be  sorrowful  and  to  say 
to  Christ  one  by  one,  “Is  it  I who  is  going  to  betray  Thee?”  and 
who,  also,  left  their  friend  and  fled,  they  however,  later  on  getting 
power  to  make  a bold  front, — still,  in  view  of  that  the  printing  press 
and  the  protection  thereby  afforded  humanity  has  changed  the  condi- 
tion to  even  the  disciples  of  Christ,  is  it  not,  then,  a great  mistake 
to  be  so  afraid  of  “the  bosses”  as  to  leave  a brother,  like  another 
Joseph,  in  the  pit  crying  for  mercy,  for  months  and  for  years  under 
the  sole  discretion  and  jurisdiction  of  a set  of  “chums,”  from  whose 
oppression  he  endeavors  to  flee? 

To  let  a witch  remain  a witch,  and  to  permit  all  invectives  to  be 
thrown  at  her  as  being  full  of  hate,  malice,  etc.,  and  let  those  on  the 
top  of  her  remain  angels,  worthy  holy  persons  of  Christian  tact, 
charity  and  discretion,  and  not  to  mind  the  witch,  unless  she  appears 
to  be  “lucky”  enough  to  secure  a lawyer  to  appeal  to  “Parliament 
or  Congress  to  repeal  the  statutes  against  witches,  against  the  express 
law  of  God,”  must  be  a mistake,  at  least  in  the  sight  of  God,  who 
claims  that  there  is  one  flesh  of  men,  and  another  flesh  of  beasts,  and 
another  flesh  of  birds,  and  another  flesh  of  fishes. 

The  Accommodating  Spirit  Manifested  in  the  First  Circulars. 

If,  in  my  natural  reluctance  to  cause  others  trouble,  and  in  my  de- 
light to  make  personal  sacrifices  to  render  others  happy,  too  much 


68 


lenity  is  manifested  in  my  first  circular  letters,  I having  omitted  to 
take  into  consideration  that  my  coarse-grained  blacklisters  by  nature 
are  impotent  to  appreciate  the  accommodating  spirit  maifested  in  my 
anxiety  to  be  mild  and  merciful  in  my  censures,  which  lenity  they 
are  construing  as  simply  tokens  of  incapacity  of  proving  anything; 
if  I,  therefore,  have  found  out  my  mistake  in  having  misplaced  my 
sympathies,  why  can  it  not  be  possible  that  at  least  500  of  the  brethren 
will  see  your  mistake  in  not  having  granted  a ready  undissembling 
response  to  the  first  signal  of  distress  from  a garroted  brother?  By 
neglecting  to  do  this,  have  you  not  exalted  the  bad  habits  of  the  many 
who  are  so  apt  to  pass  judgment  on  a man,  not  with  reference  to 
whether  he  is  a fit  or  unfit  public  servant,  but  with  reference  to 
whether  he  is  an  executive  or  legislative  officer. 

Can  it  be  anything  but  a mistake  to  throw  invectives  at  your  brother 
as  thanks  for  his  accommodating  spirit  manifested  in  his  circulars, 
where  in  “practicable  goodness”  opportunity  has  been  afforded  to 
meet  him  half  way?  Instead  of  calling  your  brother  hateful,  why 
can  you  not  size  him  up  from  the  circumstance  that  he  has  sacrificed 
a calling,  in  which,  if  he  had  spent  as  much  time  and  energy  for 
completing  the  preparations  for  it,  and  later  on  in  filling  it,  he  would 
have  had  a munificent  income?  So,  also,  in  1890,  when  at  the  sight 
of  Dr.  Lindberg  in  the  seminary,  he  was  scared  away  from  entering 
that  institution,  and  was  offered  a bright  future  by  the  Minnesota 
Stat’s  Tidning,  or  paper,  he  also  then  gave  away  to  the  remonstrances 
and  expostulations  of  the  two  presidents  of  the  Synod’s  school,  these 
men  admitting  that  there  was  more  money  in  store  for  me  in  other 
callings,  but  that  the  Lord  wanted  me  as  pastor  in  the  service  of  the 
Synod. 

Later  on,  as  pastor,  with  an  income  of  $1,400  a year  on  a growing 
field,  I capitulated  to  your  implorations  that  in  all  likelihood  the  New- 
port mission  would  be  lost  to  the  Synod  if  I did  not  go  there,  after 
having  taken  up  the  precious  time  by  writing  a letter  to  a former 
schoolmate,  which  letter  you  unjustly  claimed  to  be  an  unconditional 
application. 

Can  it  be  a right  that  the  present  conference  president,  as  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  conference  conscience,  is  obliged  to  state: 

You  know,  Holmgren,  that  I cannot  do  anything  for  you,  as  you  have  against 
you  all  the  Conference  officials  from  the  time  you  served  at  Newport. 

When,  at  Newport,  I was  told  to  even  beg  for  my  salary  among 
the  millionaires,  did  I not  then  take  upon  myself  more  than  one  man’s 
work  in  order  to  satisfy  not  only  my  own  conscience,  but  also  your 


69 


whims,  who  had  laid  upon  my  shoulders  a superhuman  task,  on  which 
you  wanted  my  future  to  depend? 

Is  it  right  to  now  condemn  me  as  being  a hateful,  morose  person, 
when  in  fact  my  great  fault  is  that  my  benevolence  has  been*  so  pre- 
dominant as  to  not  be  placed  under  an  adequate  consideration?  If 
for  such  reasons  you  condemn  me  as  being  of  an  unbalanced  mind, 
and  if  for  such  reasons,  you  are  on  the  spring  to  place  me  in  an  asy- 
lum, or  otherwise  throw  me  overboard,  you  are  on  the  verge  of  per- 
forming a mistake,  the  consequences  of  which  would  be  so  disastrous 
to  your  eternal  welfare,  that,  in  my  love  for  you,  I desire  to  invoke 
you  not  to  undertake  such  a rash  stroke  of  policy. 

The  Assertion  of  the  Conference  President. 

In  1896,  Rev.  L.  G-.  Almen,  who  in  1900  neglected  to  fulfil  his  prom- 
ise, made  to  me,  to  report  to  the  statistician  of  the  Minnesota  Confer- 
ence the  great  accessions  made  by  me  in  1899,  before  I left  for  New- 
port, R.  I.,  asserted  before  the  congregation  of  Bethania,  Mason, 
Minn.,  that  he  never  saw  a man  so  ready  to  confess  his  faults  and 
shortcomings  as  I.  Truly,  if,  in  the  past,  and  in  obedience  to  the 
precepts  of  Thomas  a Kempis,  I have  always  thought  lowly  of  myself, 
as  the  chiefest  of  sinners,  and  highly  of  the  brethren,  and  my  dis- 
position has  been  an  excessive  humility,  is  it  not  a mistake  of  teach- 
ers of  morals  and  religion  to  take  advantage  of  such,  thereby  resem- 
bling poultry,  peeking  a newcomer  if  he  does  not  peck  back  again,  or 
as,  referring  to  the  condition  of  the  Synod,  Nelsenius  writes  to  me : 

Yes,  it  is  true  that  they  who  can  elbow  and  shove  themselves  forward  will 
in  most  cases  secure  the  fat  position,  while  the  others  are  driven  to  the  wall 
or  cast  adrift. 

No  wonder  that  this  president  hides  himself  under  the  excuse  that 
he  has  offered  me  a place  or  chance  to  canvass  books  for  the  Synod. 
However,  being  denied  a clean  record  from  so  many  years  of  incessant 
hard  service  as  minister,  there  is  no  guarantee  given  that  now,  at  a 
more  advanced  age,  I would  suit  the  blacklisted  in  any  other  capacity. 
Consequently,  by  leaving  in  disgrace  now  would  give  me  an  assurance 
that  my  other  services  in  other  directions  would  terminate  not  only 
likewise,  but  still  more  disastrous  and  aggravating.  Besides,  my 
intelligence  tells  me  that  the  Augustana  Book  Concern  would  do  much 
better  to  employ  as  its  agent  men  of  good  reputation  and  of  excellent 
official  record. 

If  I have  had  a comparatively  larger  attendance  at  services,  and  if 


TO 


I have  had  a comparatively  larger  success  in  my  work  than  the  black- 
listers  have  had;  and  if  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  tells  these 
brethren  that  it  is  their  duty  to  prove  before  the  public  or  the  congre- 
gations that  such  men  as  I,  notwithstanding  their  seeming  great  suc- 
cess, are  totally  unfit  to  be  ministers,  why  should  these  blacklisted  all 
the  time  employ  lies  and  calumnies  to  verify  their  statements  and 
moves?  Why  can  they  not  get  hold  of  my  real  faults  and  defects 
instead  of  jumping  at  chimeras? 

And  even  if  you  could  get  hold  of  one  of  my  real  faults,  you  have 
no  right  to  causelessly  give  publicity  to  it.  We  have  no  right  to 
utter  general  conclusions  respecting  the  characters  of  men  drawn  from 
a particular  bad  action  which  they  may  have  committed.  The  presi- 
dent of  Brown  University,  Dr.  Wayland,  here  states: 

How  unjust  it  must  be  to  proclaim  a man  destitute  of  a whole  class  of 
virtues  because  of  one  failure  in  virtue!  How  much  more  unjust  on  account 
of  one  fault  to  deny  him  all  claim  to  any  virtue  whatsoever!  Yet  such  is 
frequently  the  very  object  of  calumny.  And,  in  general,  this  form  of  vice  is 
added  to  that  just  noted.  Men  first,  in  violation  of  the  law  of  reciprocity, 
make  public  the  evil  actions  of  others;  and  then,  with  a malignant  power  of 
generalization,  proceed  to  deny  their  claims,  not  only  to  a whole  class  of 
virtues,  but  not  unfrequently  to  all  virtue  whatsoever, 

as,  for  instance,  I am  declared  wholly  unfit  and  unworthy  of  the  office 
as  a minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  this  horrible  dictu,  though  the  charges 
preferred  against  me  are  all  based  on  falsehood  and  malicious  cal- 
umny. 

These  blacklisted  and  persecutors  have  forgotten  that  they  are  for- 
bidden causelessly  to  injure  another,  even  if  he  have  done  wrong. 
Thereby  they  have  forced  me  to  follow  the  rule  that  whenever  justice 
can  be  done,  or  innocence  protected,  in  no  other  manner  than  by  a 
course  which  must  injure  him,  we  are  under  no  such  prohibition. 
Just  here  Doctor  Wayland  rightly  remarks: 

No  man  has  a right  to  expect  to  do  wrong  with  impunity;  much  less  has 
he  a right  to  expect  that,  in  order  to  shield  him  from  the  just  consequences  of 
his  actions  injustice  should  be  done  to  others,  or  that  other  men  (such  as  Ny- 
strom,  Frank  Swanson,  Olander,  Hedeen,  Jacobson,  etc.)  shall  by  silence  de- 
liver up  the  innocent  and  unwary  into  his  power. 

The  principle  by  which  we  are  to  test  our  own  motives,  in  speaking  of  that 
which  may  harm  others,  is  this:  When  we  utter  anything  which  will  harm 
another,  and  we  do  it  either  without  cause,  or  with  pleasure,  or  thoughtlessly, 
we  are  guilty  of  calumny.  When  we  do  it  with  pain  and  sorrow  for  the  of- 
fender, and  from  the  severe  motive  of  protecting  the  innocent,  of  promoting 
the  ends  of  public  justice,  or  for  the  good  of  the  offender  himself,  and  speak 
of  it  only  to  such  persons  and  in  such  manner  as  is  consistent  with  these  ends. 


71 


we  may  speak  of  the  evil  actions  of  others,  and  yet  be  wholly  innocent  of 
calumny. 

We  are  therefore  bound  to  speak  of  the  faults  of  others: 

1.  To  promote  the  ends  of  public  justice.  He  who  conceals  a crime  against 
a society  renders  himself  a party  to  the  offence.  We  are  bound  to  speak  of  it 
in  order  that  it  may  be  brought  to  trial  and  punishment.  The  ordinary  preju- 
dice against  informing  is  unwise  and  immoral.  He  who,  from  proper  mo- 
tives, informs  against  crime  performs  an  act  as  honorable  as  that  of  the 
judge  who  tries  the  case,  or  of  the  juror  who  returns  the  verdict.  That  this 
may  be  done  from  improper  motives  alters  not  the  case.  A judge  may  hold 
his  office  for  the  love  of  money,  but  this  does  not  make  the  office  despicable. 

2.  To  protect  the  innocent.  If  I know  of  a plan  laid  for  the  purpose  of  se- 
duction (or  other  crime)  I am  bound  to  make  use  of  that  knowledge  to  defeat 
it.  All  that  is  required  here  is  that  I know  what  I assert  to  be  the  fact,  and 
that  I use  it  simply  for  the  purposes  specified. 

3.  For  the  good  of  the  offender  himself.  No  wicked  person  has  a right  to 
expect  that  the  community  will  keep  his  conduct  secret  from  those  who  have 
a right  specially  to  be  informed  of  it.  He  who  does  is  partaker  in  the  guilt. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  in  the  trial  of  Henry  Croswell,  also  unfolds 
the  doctrine  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  in  the  following  remarkable 
words : 

The  liberty  of  the  press  consists  in  the  right  to  publish  with  impunity  the 
truth,  with  good  motives,  and  for  justifiable  ends,  whether  it  respects  govern- 
ments, magistrates,  or  individuals. 

This  is  also  the  reason  why  I have  tried  to  prevail  upon  the  Synod’s 
organ,  August  ana,  to  take  up  the  case,  so  as  to  bring  about  a fair  treat- 
ment of  the  issues  involved.  This  is  also  the  reason  why  I sent  the 
bulk  of  items  contained  in  this  book  to  a few  of  the  ministers,  and 
why  I asked  the  Synod’s  vice-president,  etc.,  to  assist  in  getting  the 
matter  printed  in  any  of  the  plants  of  the  Synod.  And  only  when  all 
these  efforts  proved  to  be  futile  did  I begin  to  employ  private  print- 
ers, though  with  the  understanding  that  only  those  more  directly  con- 
cerned should  have  a copy  of  these  letters,  wherein  I have  endeavored 
to  generalize  and  as  much  as  possible  avoid  mentioning  the  faults  of 
the  blacklisters,  except  in  cases  wThere  it  has  been  unavoidable  to  meet 
their  own  unwarrantable  actions. 

Withal,  this  book  does  not  cover  the  whole  subject,  and  another 
volume  may  consequently  have  to  be  issued,  the  letters  and  evidences 
of  the  matter  being  stored  up  in  a safe  vault  here  in  New  Hampshire. 

There  is  no  use  for  the  blacklisters  to  claim  that  the  money  spent 
for  printing  these  articles  ought  to  have  been  used  to  pay  debts,  etc. 
Those  who  have  advanced  this  money  would  feel  offended  if  it  were 
not  used  for  the  purpose  they  intended  it  for.  Preaching  and  wit- 
nessing to  the  truth  will  thus  be  carried  on  by  me,  who  believes 


that  if  Jesus  himself  would  incognito  take  a job  in  the  service  of  the 
Synod,  in  their  present  state  of  mind,  the  blacklisted  would  be  the 
first  to  advise  the  nailing  of  Him  to  some  board,  etc. 

Having  merely  warned  some  Concord  leaders  that  God  is  on  my 
side,  and  that  it  is  wrong  of  them  to  think  that,  in  the  sight  of  God, 
they  only  are  murderers  who  plunge  a steel  knife  through  their  vic- 
tims; and,  in  order  to  escape  a trap  set  for  me,  one  Sunday,  1906, 
instead  of  the  secretary  of  the  parish,  I having  insisted  upon  read- 
ing the  minutes  of  the  general  meeting  of  the  parish,  I have  been  de- 
clared to  be  unaccountable  for  my  actions,  etc.,  when  for  such  and 
similar  reasons  I have  been  thrown  to  the  dogs  and  driven  helplessly 
into  debts,  etc. ; — what  would  such  blacklisted  or  leaders  have  done  to 
Jesus,  who  dared  to  call  a Herod  “a  fox,”  and  the  dignified  leaders  of 
the  people  “vipers,”  and  a disciple  “Satan,”  etc.;  nay,  who  even 
whipped  people,  and  about  whom  Publius  Lentulus,  governor  of 
Judea,  wrote  to  the  senate  of  Rome  that  this  Jesus  was  terrible  in  re- 
proving and  of  a countenance  such  as  the  beholder  may  both  love  and 
fear?  Nay,  what  would  these  blacklisted  have  done  to  David,  who, 
according  to  I Sam.  21,  to  save  his  life  even  feigned  himself  mad  in 
the  hands  of  the  king  of  Achish,  and  scrabbled  on  the  doors  of  the  gate 
and  let  the  spittle  fall  upon  his  beard? 

Here  it  may  perhaps  be  proper  to  clear  away  possible  misunder- 
standings as  to  the  reasons  for  the  sudden  close  of  my  labors  at  Gard- 
ner. To  do  so,  I beg  leave  to  hereby  disclose  my  letter  addressed  to 
that  parish  in  July,  the  19th,  and  printed  in  Skandinavia,  when  no 
protection  could  be  secured  from  the  Conference  officials : 

To  the  beloved  church  council  and  members  of  the  Scandinavian  Lutheran 
Church  of  Gardner,  Mass.:  Grace  and  Peace! 

When  in  April  your  call  extended  to  me  was  accepted,  it  was  done  with  the 
understanding  that  the  ministerial  bosses,  who  have  caused  my  present  strait- 
ened condition,  would  finally  render  it  possible  for  me  to  leave  Concord  in  the 
middle  of  this  month,  if  not  before.  In  this  my  belief,  I was  sustained  by  the 
resolutions  carried  at  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  June,  1907,  which  resolu- 
tion, printed  in  the  records  of  the  Synod,  reads  as  follows: 

CONTRIBUTION  TO  PASTOR  C.  J.  A.  HOLMGREN. 

On  account  of  a petition  from  the  New  York  Conference  to,  it  possible,  assist 
Pastor  Holmgren  in  his  present  straitened  situation,  it  was  carried: 

1.  That  a contribution  at  the  rate  of  $2  from  each  pastor  be  taken  up  for 
the  benefit  of  Pastor  Holmgren. 

2.  That  Pastor  J.  A.  Bernhard  be  steward  of  his  money. 

3.  That  the  Conference  presidents  see  to  it  that  this  resolution  is  carried  out. 

From  this  promised  and  publicly  announced  source  I have  still  to  expect 

$748.02.  The  amount  given  me  during  the  past  thirteen  months  has  been  for- 


78 


warded  in  such  small  sums  that  the  adequate  and  lasting  benefit  from  such 
contributions  has  been  withheld  from  me,  who  needed  the  whole  amount  at 
once  in  order  to  render  an  honorable  removal  from  Concord  possible  instead 
of,  as  now,  compelling  me  to  spend  it  on  traveling  expenses  on  my  Sunday  vis- 
its to  Gardner,  I having  all  this  time  been  kept  in  suspense  by  the  decoy  or 
vain  hope  that  the  bulk  of  this  contribution  was  on  its  way  to  make  it  pos- 
sible for  us  to  move  within  a short  time.  My  friends  and  creditors,  who  have 
assisted  us  hitherto  in  keeping  the  wolf  from  the  door,  have  also  strongly 
advised  me  to  endeavor  to  get  things  straightened  up  before  I leave  Concord, 
where  I am  well  known  for  years. 

The  ecclesiastical  rules  prescribing  that  a pastor  has  to  move  to  a con- 
gregation within  three  months  after  accepting  its  call,  and  the  time  now  being 
up,  there  remains  nothing  else  than  that  the  congregation  convenes  to  extend 
a call  to  a pastor  who  can  come  within  the  stipulated  time,  or  else  to  resolve 
to  wait  for  the  possibility  for  me  to  come  some  time  in  the  near  future,  al- 
though the  prospects  are  not  very  bright,  as,  for  instance,  Rev.  Bernhard  has 
written  to  one  of  my  creditors  that  after  this  nothing  more  will  be  paid  to 
me,  thereby  branded  as  a deceiver  and  absconder,  the  public  being  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  the  ministerial  bosses  have  deprived  me  of  the  moral  and  finan- 
cial support  every  pastor  has  a right  to  expect  and  demand  from  his  church. 
Thus,  for  instance,  during  my  first  two  years  in  Concord  I received  only  $150 
from  the  board  of  the  Conference,  while  my  successor,  Rev.  Norden,  was  as- 
sisted to  $500.  Such  injustices  may  give  an  inkling  of  the  many  other  wrongs 
perpetrated  against  me  under  the  old  pretext  of  the  lamb  and  the  wolf  by 
the  brook. 

During  the  eleven  months  I have  served  you,  particularly  on  Sundays,  I have 
strived  to  comply  with  your  cherished  wishes  that  I should  come  to  you  well 
recommended  from  my  last  charge.  To  that  end  I tried  to  get  our  Swedish 
New  England  weekly,  Svea,  to  right  the  wrongs  it  perpetrated  on  February  7, 
1906,  when  that  paper  allowed  its  Concord  correspondent  to  publicly  brand  me 
as  one  using  the  weapons  of  lies  when  stating  that  the  membership  of  the 
congregation  had  almost  doubled  during  my  ministry.  Having  in  view  to 
remove  to  Gardner  this  summer,  I therefore  desired  to  ask  the  people  of  Con- 
cord to  be  allowed  to  leave  them  with  a clean  record.  To  that  end,  I caused 
to  be  printed  in  Svea  of  the  24th  of  last  June  the  names  of  the  respective 
members  of  the  congregation,  and  requested  that  each  name  should  be  taken 
up  and  an  investigation  made  as  to  my  rights  of  having  used  them  in  my 
statement.  The  names  were  printed,  but  instead  of  compelling  him  to  dwell 
on  the. names,  the  editor  of  Svea  allowed  its  correspondent  to  reply  by  bring- 
ing in  a number  of  other  accusations,  evidently  to  get  the  attention  of  the 
public  from  the  propriety  of  a fair  trial  and  a consistent  discussion  on  the 
unjust  charges  made  against  me  in  1906.  Anyone  can  see  that  with  such 
persecutors  there  is  no  chance  for  a wronged  man  to  get  his  rights,  especially 
as  Svea  refused  to  take  in  any  more  replies  made  by  me. 

When  the  apostles  Paul  and  Silas  were  imprisoned  at  Philippi,  Paul  as- 
serted: “They  have  beaten  us  openly  uncondemned,  being  Romans,  and  have 
cast  us  into  prison;  and  now  they  do  thrust  us  out  privily?  Nay,  verily,  but 
let  them  come  themselves  and  fetch  us  out.” 

Without  trial,  my  ministerial  bosses  have  abused  me  without  just  cause, 
I having  done  nothing  but  my  Christian  duty  in  developing  the  congregations 
and  faithfully  and  successfully  working  for  the  welfare  of  my  church.  Such 


74 


crimes  or  offenses  committed  by  the  Conference  officials  against  me  are  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  all  nations,  to  wit,  even  against  the  Ameri- 
can laws,  according  to  which  as  an  American  citizen  I ought  to  have  been  ex- 
empted from  such  evil  treatment.  These  bosses  do  now  want  to  thrust  me 
out  from  Concord  in  such  a way  that  no  one  shall  know  of  my  innocence. 

With  the  examples  of  Paul  and  Silas  before  me,  the  Spirit  of  Truth  and 
Mercy  demands  that  those  who  publicly  disgraced  me  ought  also  to  publicly 
announce  my  innocence.  The  treatment  I have  been  subjected  to  is  in  fact  a 
good  deal  more  inhuman  than  the  apostles  were  subjected  to.  When  they  left 
their  prison  they  did  not  leave  a number  of  creditors,  whom,  notwithstanding 
their  willingness  to  do  them  right,  they  were  rendered  unable  to  compensate. 
Nay,  in  contrast  to  this,  I am  not  only  branded  as  an  object  of  ridicule  and 
pity,  barring  the  chances  of  promotion  in  my  church,  but  as  a deceiver  on  ac- 
count of  my  unavoidable  debts,  that  will  ruin  and  impede  my  progress  in 
whatever  new  calling  I may  enter.  No  wonder  that  one  of  the  ex-officials 
of  the  Conference  could  write  to  me  that  he  considers  me  to  have  been  treated, 
to  say  the  least,  shamefully  and  unrighteously  as  a reward  for  all  my  inces- 
sant and  faithful  services. 

During  the  late  years  I have  by  means  of  circular  letters  endeavored  to  im- 
plore the  bosses  to  be  more  considerate  in  the  future,  and  see  to  it  that  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  may  not  be  spoken  against  as  evil  doers;  also  remind- 
ing them  of  the  difficulties  connected  with  moving  my  large  family  into  an  en- 
tirely new  community,  as  matters  now  stand. 

Last  year,  a Nebraska  pastor  answered  me  upon  one  of  my  circulars  that  if 
it  were  the  will  of  God  that  I should  receive  a call  to  continue  as  pastor  of 
a church,  he  would  get  me  a call,  no  matter  how  many  were  against  it  and 
tried  to  hinder  it.  Simultaneously  (in  August,  last  year)  Pastor  Linell  of 
this  Gardner  congregation  received  a stroke  of  paralysis,  and  at  once  he  wrote 
and  implored  me  to  assist  him  a Sunday  or  two  until  he  would  recover  from 
the  shock,  he  at  the  same  time  stating  that  God  would  recompense  me  for 
assisting  him.  When  he  did  not  recover  as  soon  as  he  had  expected,  he  kept 
on  imploring  me  to  keep  on  yet  a little  while,  etc.,  until  at  last,  seeing  there 
were  no  prospects  of  his  recovery,  the  congregation,  in  January  of  this  year, 
asked  me  to  become  the  successor  of  your  beloved  sick  pastor. 

But,  notwithstanding  that  the  prison  doors  were  opened,  independent  of  the 
wishes  of  the  authorities,  Paul  and  Silas  did  not  leave  their  prison  at  Philippi 
before  the  authorities  came  and  brought  them  out.  But,  notwithstanding  that 
my  bosses  have  before  them  the  good  example  set  forth  by  the  actions  of  the 
heathen  authorities  of  Philippi,  who  restored  to  the  apostles  the  respect  due 
them,  my  bosses  dp  firmly  resist  the  spirit  of  God,  and,  as  Pharaoh  of  old, 
hinder  me  making  use  of  this  call  from  Gardner.  Nay,  their  accomplice,  the 
paper  Svea,  is  doing  its  share  to  hinder  me  by  refusing  me  a fair  chance  to 
answer  the  charges  preferred  in  that  paper  February  7,  1906,  when  even  the 
name  of  the  Conference  president.  Dr.  G.  Nelsenius,  was  used  to  render  the 
libel  or  accusation  credible. 

Thus,  even  if,  through  the  unsearchable  ways  of  God,  the  door  has  been 
opened  for  me  to  serve  as  your  pastor,  I am  stopped  by  my  bosses,  who  resist 
the  spirit  of  truth  and  charity.  No  man  is  able  to  fill  a calling  unless  he  pos- 
sesses the  prerequisites  needed  to  fill  that  calling,  which  prerequisites  for  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  is  what  the  apostle  gives  in  I Tim.  3 :17 : “Moreover, 
he  must  have  a good  report  of  them  which  are  without,  lest  he  fall  into  re- 


proach  and  the  snare  of  the  devil.”  Besides  all  this,  the  bosses  having  denied 
me  the  hand  of  fellowship  in  the  spirit  of  comradeship,  will,  as  they  have 
done  in  Concord,  withhold  from  me  the  income  I need  for  my  family,  etc., 
here  in  Gardner;  and  for  me  to  scatter  my  energies  between  the  parish  du- 
ties and  other  work  to  earn  a little  extra  will  give  occasion  for  the  old  pre- 
text of  the  lamb  and  the  wolf  by  the  brook,  and  the  work  of  my  skulking, 
envious  brethren  and  tools  of  the  ring  would  then  have  still  worse  disastrous 
consequences,  I having  not  yet  been  reassured  of  the  protection  the  pastors  of 
the  Synod  are  entitled  to  and  without  which  they  are  unable  to  persevere  in 
tl^eir  calling. 

“God  moves  in  a mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform; 

He  plants  His  footsteps  in  the  sea, 

And  rides  upon  the  storm. 

“Judge  not  the  Lord  by  feeble  sense, 

But  trust  Him  for  His  grace. 

Behind  a frowning  providence 
He  hides  a smiling  face. 

“Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 

And  scan  His  work  in  vain. 

God  is  His  own  interpreter, 

And  He  will  make  it  plain.” 

Pray  for  us.  For  with  the  apostle  do  we  declare,  we  trust  that  we  have  a 
good  conscience,  in  all  things  willing  to  live  honestly. 

The  God  of  Peace  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that 
great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant, 
make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  His  will,  working  in  you  that 
which  is  well  pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory 
forever  and  ever.  Amen. 

With  sincere  gratitude  to  you  all  for  all  the  love  and  reverence  shown  me  in 
the  past,  I am  yours  in  the  Lord, 

(Signed)  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren. 

Nay,  why  should  there  not  be  a limit  to  even  the  power  of  min- 
isterial blacklisters  ? A former  president  of  the  Boston  District 
writes  me  that  there  are  occasions  when  we  neither  can  nor  are  allowed 
to  remain  silent.  Furthermore,  even  the  wives  and  children  of  min- 
isters in  predicament  do  not  want  their  husbands  and  fathers  to 
despair,  or  to  do  as  Rev.  A.  J.  Wheeler,  whom  the  “ devil  of  debt” 
drove  to  drowning  in  the  Hudson,  and  concerning  whom  the  papers 
state  that  he  was  formerly  a pastor  in  Concord,  and  that  he  suddenly 
left  the  city  under  a moral  and  financial  cloud. 

This  latter  incident  reminds  me  of  the  hunter  who  shot  a tiger  and 
thought  he  had  killed  him,  but  on  his  approaching  the  tiger  sprang 
up  and,  seizing  the  hunter  by  the  knee,  crushed  the  bone  and  then 
fell  back  dead.  The  hunter  found  himself  unable  to  walk  and  his 
cries  were  not  heard.  After  a few  hours,  however,  he  forgot  the 


76 


tiger  and  even  the  broken  bones  in  his  terrific  struggle  with  thou- 
sands of  little  ants.  The  prominent  writer  who  relates  this  asserts 
that  it  is  so  in  many  human  experiences.  It  is  not  the  great  tiger 
of  calamity  that  kills  us,  but  the  little  ant  worries  of  everyday  life, 
something  these  blacklisted  and  sycophants  must  be  well  aware  of 
in  their  inveterate  struggles  to  evade  granting  a brother  his  human 
rights. 

In  a letter  to  the  vice-president  of  the  Synod,  I have  long  ago  ad- 
mitted that  it  must  be  against  the  very  grain  of  depraved  human 
nature  to  dare  stand  up  for  an  oppressed  brother  against  a powerful 
ring  of  chums,  who,  like  the  judge  in  St.  Luke  18,  has  no  regard  for 
any  one,  these  being  rather  inclined  to  side  with  Saul,  who  confesses 
in  Acts  22:  20: 

And  when  the  blood  of  Stephen,  thy  witness,  was  shed,  I also  was  standing 
by  and  consenting,  and  keeping  the  garments  of  them  that  slew  him. 

Still,  as  Saul  was  converted,  there  is  hope  that  the  conscientious- 
ness and  benevolence  of  the  majority  of  the  brethren,  together  with 
the  unction  from  on  high,  will  make  it  possible  for  your  poor  brother 
and  others  with  him  to  escape  from  being  condemned  in  the  dark, 
but  receive  the  needed  succor  against  these  blacklisted,  who,  in  their 
cloak  of  righteousness,  have  turned  their  backs  on  him. 

Indeed,  I am  so  conscious  of  wishing  well  to  others  that  I hardly 
doubt  of  others  ’ good  will  toward  myself ; and  it  is  so  hard  for  me 
to  believe  that  the  majority  of  you  would  have  such  a small  organ  of 
benevolence  that  you  would  be  utter  disbelievers  in  disinterested  good- 
ness, and  regard  generosity  which  has  no  selfish  end  as  imbecility. 

Nay,  why  should  not  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  teachers  in  morals  and 
religion,  follow  up  the  admonition : 

Judge  not!  Tbou  canst  not  tell  how  soon  the  look  of  bitter  scorn 

May  rest  on  thee,  though  pure  thy  heart  as  dew-drops  in  the  morn. 

Thou  dost  not  know  what  freak  of  fate  may  place  upon  thy  brow 

A cloud  of  shame  to  kill  the  joy  that  rests  ux>on  it  now. 

Judge  not ! 

Judge  not!  but  rather  in  thy  heart  let  gentle  pity  dwell. 

Man’s  judgment  errs,  but  there  is  One  who  “doetli  all  things  well.” 

Ever  throughout  the  voyage  of  life  this  precept  keep  in  view: 

“Do  unto  others  as  thou  wouldst  that  they  should  do  to  you.” 

Judge  not! 

Judge  not!  for  one  unjust  reproach  an  honest  heart  can  feel 

As  keenly  as  the  deadly  stab  made  by  the  pointed  steel. 

The  worm  will  kill  the  sturdy  oak,  though  slowly  it  may  die, 

As  surely  as  the  lightning  stroke  swift  rushiug  from  the  sky. 

Judge  not! 


PART  II 


CHAPTER  IX. 

I would  not  number  among  my  list  of  friends,  though  gifted  with  fine  man- 
ners and  good  sense,  the  man  who’d  needlessly  set  foot  upon  a worm. 

Cowper. 


The  Interdict. 

Besides  a box  of  groceries  from  some  Concord  charity,  following 
malediction  or  interdict  arrived  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  1908 : 

We,  the  undersigned,  are  herewith  discharging  the  painful  duty  of  impart- 
ing to  you  the  decision  made  at  the  meeting  of  the  New  York  Conference  of- 
ficials, Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  November  16,  1908: 

Whereas,  Pastor  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren  has  not  complied  with  the  resolutions 
carried  December  3,  1907,  he  being  still  outside  of  a congregation  of  the  Au- 
gustana  Synod,  and  as  also  he  has  sent  out  another  circular,  in  its  contents 
alike  those  previously  sent,  therefore,  at  their  meeting  of  November  16,  1908, 
which,  though  summoned,  Pastor  Holmgren  failed  to  attend;  and  in  com- 
pliance with  aforesaid  resolutions,  and  after  the  warnings  from  the  president 
and  the  other  officials  have  all  been  futile,  carried  that,  until  next  general 
meeting  of  the  Conference,  Pastor  Holmgren  is  suspended  from  the  ministry, 
“deeply”  deploring  that  such  step  had  to  be  taken. 

Gustaf  Nelsenius,  President, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

E.  A.  Zetterstrand,  Secretary  of  the  Conference, 

Naugatuck,  Conn. 

Together  with  this  communication,  the  Synod’s  official  organ,  An, - 
gustana,  under  the  heading  “Suspension,”  falsely  alleges  that  an  im- 
partial investigation  and  trial  had  been  held  during  two  days,  Novem- 
ber 19  and  20,  1907,  it  being  then  ascertained  that  my  circular  state- 
ments could  not  be  maintained  as  true. 

Consequently,  before  a large  circle  of  readers  in  America  and 
Sweden,  secular  Swedish  papers  in  the  United  States  are  publishing 
the  following: 

Because  of  having  circulated  grave  though  undemonstrable  accusations 
against  the  New  York  Conference  officials,  and  as  he  does  not  belong  to  a con- 
gregation, Pastor  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  is,  until  next  general 
meeting  of  the  Conference,  suspended. 


7-8 


Thus,  in  contrast  to  my  own  brotherly  and  justifiable  endeavors  in 
private  circulars  to  appeal  solely  before  the  parties  more  directly  con- 
cerned to  get  the  bush-fight  and  blacklisting  declared  off,  neck  and 
heel,  they  have  now  ruthlessly  dragged  me,  as  the  witches  of  old,  an 
object  of  scorn  and  contempt,  before  the  general  public  of  two  hemi- 
spheres. 


When  a Man  Is  Down. 

That  blacklisted  have  free  access  to  the  press  is  furthermore  plain 
from  the  following  article  in  the  Swedish  New  England  weekly,  Svea, 
of  February  7,  1906  : 

The  circumstances  rendering  it  necessary,  it  is  hereby  made  public  that 
Svea's  Concord  correspondent,  . . . has  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  notice  in  Svea  of  last  week,  with  reference  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Lutheran  congregation  of  this  place.  Nevertheless,  many  have  asked  me  how 
I could  make  myself  guilty  of  such  exaggerations,  etc.,  and  I readily  admit 
that  if  I had  been  the  author  of  said  notice  these  reprehensions  would  have 
been  warranted.  In  the  notice  referred  to,  among  other  things,  it  is  as- 
serted : “The  number  of  communicants  has  already  reached  the  one  hundred 
mark,  and  has  actually  doubled  within  the  nearly  four  years  Pastor  Holmgren 
has  served  the  congregation.”  Indeed,  this  sounds  well ! However,  if  one 
wants  to  battle  for  a good  cause  why  not  make  use  of  the  weapons  of  truth? 
From  the  pastor’s  report  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1902,  -which  report,  by  the 
way,  was  such  that  it  could  be  accepted,  it  shows  that  the  communicant  num- 
ber at  that  time  was  eighty-eight;  and  as  in  this  congregation  accounts  close 
at  each  calendar  year,  it  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  December  31,  1905, 
the  communicant  number  was  eighty-nine.  How,  then,  could  the  number  have 
doubled?  At  the  request  of  members  of  the  church  council  these  com- 
ments are  made  by  the  correspondent.  The  annual  meeting  is  to  be  continued 
tomorrow  night,  when  the  president  of  the  New  York  Conference  will  be  pres- 
ent. 

At  present  it  will  be  a somewhat  difficult  matter  to  trace  who  of  the 
Svea  staff  permitted  the  above  screwed  criticism  to  be  published,  as 
the  two  Swedish  New  England  weeklies,  Svea  and  Skandinavia,  since 
that  time  have  changed  owners,  so  that,  for  instance,  Skandinavia  is 
now  under  the  control  of  former  Svea  owners,  while  the  former 
Skandinavia  manager  is  now  Svea’s  manager.  These  changes  have 
been  so  radical  that  even  Gardner’s  Skandinavia  correspondent,  who. 
while  I labored  in  Gardner  a year  ago,  acquainted  the  public  with 
the  love  and  esteem  I was  held  in  by  the  Gardner  congregation,  is  now 
in  the  employ  of  the  former  bosses  and  owners  of  Svea,  whose  former 
Gardner  correspondent,  also  having  lauded  me,  is  no  longer  engaged 
by  Svea. 

Withal,  when  about  three  years  ago,  upon  my  urgent  appeals  I was 


79 


given  an  opportunity  to  preach  before  the  then  vacant  congregation  at 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  with  a view  of  receiving  a call,  the  bosses  were 
evidently  afraid  that  my  sermons  would  cut  them  off  from  influ- 
encing the  parish  through  its  leaders,  the  deacons,  etc.  Therefore,  Rev. 
Cesander,  who  was  present  at  both  services,  saw  fit  to  cool  down  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  common  people  by  winding  up  my  services  with  a 
short  address,  in  which  he  strongly  impressed  upon  the  audience 
that  they  have  no  idea  how  long  a time  it  takes  a pastor  to  prepare 
for  his  sermons,  the  delivery  of  which  seems  to  be  such  an  easy  mat- 
ter. When  thus  in  their  nervous  anxiety  to  smother  and  unfrock  me 
these  bosses  and  their  tools  do  not  hesitate  to  oppose  me,  even  in  the 
open,  their  secret  deeds  in  the  dark  must  be  dark  enough  to  render  it 
intelligible  why  the  feigned  efforts  of  the  bosses  to  assist  me  are  all 
in  vain. 


Dangers  Threatening  Our  National  Life. 

In  the  Third  Supplement  is  already  referred  to  how,  in  1907,  at  my 
premeditated  departure  from  Concord  to  Gardner,  Svea  allowed  its 
Concord  correspondent  to  draw  the  public’s  attention  from  the  pro- 
priety of  a consistent  discussion  and  exhaustive  inquiry  when  pe- 
titioned by  me  to  have  the  respective  Concord  communicants  taken 
up  and  commented  upon,  in  order  to  evince  if,  according  to  the  un- 
just charges  made  in  the  above  article  of  February  7,  1906,  I had  de- 
served to  be  publicly  branded  as  a liar,  when  in  my  compassionate  ef- 
forts to  prevail  upon  the  parish  owners,  or  leaders,  to  lower  the  mem- 
bership fees,  I had  reminded  them  of  that  during  my  ministry  in  Con- 
cord the  communicant  number  had  almost  doubled. 

In  view  of  that  many  families  have  a hard  struggle  to  get  along, 
not  having  half  the  income  the  families  of  the  stone-cutters  have,  such 
a reduction  of  the  membership  fees  means  half  the  battle  to  a con- 
scientious, hard-working  and  successful  pastor,  is,  for  instance,  evident 
from  the  following  in  the  minutes  of  the  Synod  recorded  communica- 
tion from  an  Augustana  pastor  in  Iowa : 

Here  in  my  parish  I have  often  deplored  that  old  people  and  several  poor 
families  abstain  from  joining  the  congregation.  They  may  hunger  after  the 
word  of  God;  they  may  crave  for  the  Lord’s  Supper;  still,  they  keep  aloof. 
This  because  they  think  themselves  not  entitled  to  ask  to  be  taken  up  as  mem- 
bers, unable  as  they  are  to  pay  the  dues.  The  congregation  has  already  sev- 
eral non-paying  members  and  from  these  the  Synod  demands  a tax  (about  60 
cents),  and  for  such  reasons  we  are  not  particular  having  any  more  join  us. 
Is  the  Church  then  merely  a business  enterprise?  The  Synod  seems  to  con- 
sider it  so.  We  do  hope,  however,  that  the  Synod  will  wake  up  from  its  omin- 
ous mistake.  If  above  all,  the  Church  is  not  an  institution  of  charity,  then 
woe  unto  us! 


80 


How  heinous  then  to  deny  me  my  rights  to  leave  Concord  with  a 
clean  record,  and  to  punch  upon  a strenuous  brother  struggling  for 
the  welfare  of  humanity ; and  for  this  kindness  towards  man  and  brute 
to  publicly  disgrace  him  as  a thief,  a liar,  a madman,  etc.,  in  the  same 
style  as  the  witches,  the  martyrs,  Christ,  etc.,  were  handled  by  their 
contemporaneous  fellowmen ; and  then  to  interdict  him  on  the  frothy 
excuse  that  in  the  only  way  available,  by  means  of  round  robins,  and 
as  Gorky,  in  the  name  of  humanity,  he  appeals  for  mercy. 

How  wrong  of  certain  newspapers  to  uphold  such  atrocities!  And 
all  this,  though  any  sane  man  will  side  with  Andrew  Carnegie,  keenly 
. asserting : 

If  a judge  were  interested  in  a case  you  would  not  respect  his  decision, 
would  you? 

In  the  well  known  book  “ Moral  Science”  by  the  former  president  of 
Brown  University,  it  is  rightly  stated : 

If  it  be  wrong  to  injure  my  neighbor’s  reputation  within  the  limited  circle 
of  my  acquaintance,  how  much  more  wrong  must  it  be  to  injure  it  throughout 
a nation!  . . . The  conductor  of  a public  press  possesses  no  greater  priv- 

ileges than  any  other  man,  nor  has  he  any  more  right  than  any  other  man  to 
use,  or  suffer  to  be  used,  his  press  for  the  sake  of  gratifying  personal  pique, 
or  avenging  individual  wrong,  or  holding  up  individuals  without  trial  to  pub- 
lic scorn.  Crime  against  society  is  to  be  punished  by  society,  and  by  society 
alone,  and  he  who  conducts  a public  press  has  no  more  right  because  he  has 
the  physical  power  to  inflict  pain  on  any  other  individual. 

In  speaking  of  redeeming  public  life  from  scoundrelism,  President 
Roosevelt  also  states : 

The  successful  man,  whether  in  business  or  in  politics,  who  has  risen  by 
conscientious  swindling  of  his  neighbor,  by  deceit  and  chicanery,  by  unscrup- 
ulous boldness  and  cunning,  stands  towards  society  as  a dangerous  wild  beast. 
The  mean  and  cringing  admiration  which  such  a career  commands  among 
those  who  think  crookedly,  or  not  at  all,  makes  this  kind  of  success  perhaps 
the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  influences  that  threaten  our  national  life. 

At  any  rate,  how  malevolent  to  first  outlaw  a man  from  a congre- 
gation and  then  to  jump  on  the  fact  of  his  being  outside  of  it  as  a 
hail  fellow  well  met  starting  hole  for  an  ex-officio  proclamation,  that, 
for  being  outside  of  a congregation,  he  is  interdicted  and  thrown  to 
the  dogs,  while  already  long  ago,  behind  the  scenes,  this  their  Drey- 
fus has  been  dispatched  to  his  Devil’s  Island! 

Francis  Wayland  of  Brown  University,  in  his  Practical  Ethics, 
rightly  asserts  that  to  diminish  the  esteem  in  which  a man  is  held  by 
his  fellows,  to  detract  from  the  reputation  which  he  has  thus  acquired, 
is  a great  violation  of  justice ; nay,  it  may  be  a far  greater  violation 


81 


of  justice  than  robbing  him  of  money.  It  has,  moreover,  the  addi- 
tional aggravation  of  conferring  no  benefit  upon  the  aggressor  beyond 
that  of  the  gratification  of  a base  and  malignant  envy. 

A Lorn  Wretch,  “Unpossessed  of  God’s  Blessings.” 

The  Conference  president,  Nelsenius,  did  not  even  object  to  that 
his  name  had  been  used  in  the  above  mentioned  Svea  article,  insinuat- 
ing that,  at  the  meeting  of  the  following  day,  February  8,  1906,  I was 
to  be  court-martialed  for  acts  unbecoming  and  unworthy  of  a teacher 
in  morals  and  religion. 

Moreover,  at  that  same  meeting,  February  8,  1906,  though  in  the 
memories  of  the  parish  owners  he  had  riveted  that  there  were  no 
valid  charges  preferred  against  me,  Doctor  Nelsenius  nevertheless 
requested  me  to  ask  a deacon  for  forgiveness  because  at  a meeting 
with  the  church  council  I had  reminded  him  of  the  inconsistency  and 
weakness  displayed  by  this  deacon  in  siding  with  the  parish  treasurer, 
that  among  other  things  of  a similar  nature  a family  unable  to  pay  for 
more  than  seven  months  of  the  year  should  not  belong  to  the  parish, 
though  this  family  assures  me  that  they  will  pay  as  soon  as  they  are 
able,  they  being  temporarily  embarrassed. 

As  Christ  prayed,  “Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do,”  I consequently  yieldingly  asked  that  deacon  for  forgive- 
ness, “provided  his  pastor’s  course  of  proceedings  had  been  un- 
fathomable to  him.” 

Notwithstanding  the  agonies  already  brought  down  upon  my  family, 
they  now  want  me  to  become  a regular  member  of  this  synagogue 
and  insanity  commission,  once  more  to  be  subjected  to  their  immedi- 
ate jurisdiction,  though  I am  incapacitated  to  meet  even  the  dues  for 
one  month.  Judging  from  previous  experiences,  they  would  show  no 
clemency,  not  considering  that  when  I had  anything  to  give  I gave  it 
all,  and  that  many  are  the  $10  and  $20  offered  by  me  on  the  altar  of 
the  Synod. 

When  the  father  of  several  of  the  Concord  parish  owners  told  my 
wife  how  God’s  blessings  rest  on  some  homes,  while  others  have  noth- 
ing, he  repeatedly  relating  that,  in  order  to  render  the  collection  for 
the  San  Francisco  sufferers  an  even  $4,  his  son,  the  treasurer,  had 
added  30  cents,  she  weighed  in  her  heart  how  her  family  had  con- 
tributed 75  cents  to  that  collection,  and  that  she  considered  very  small 
that  contribution,  and  not  worth  mentioning;  and  that,  no  doubt, 
because  of  such  our  unconscious  comparatively  greater  unassuming 


82 


sympathy  for  humanity,  her  family  is  completely  wrecked,  and  “ un- 
possessed of  God’s  blessings,”  as  the  old  man  insinuated. 

At  any  rate,  they  would  not  stop  considering  my  penury  and  want 
being  caused  by  the  circumstance  that  coarse-grained  blacklisted  have 
taken  advantage  of  my  readiness  to  serve,  thereby  giving  them  a 
chance  to  also  lay  all  their  iniquity  on  me. 

The  Wolf  and  the  Lamb  by  the  Brook. 

Even  from  the  experiences  I had  sixteen  years  ago,  I cannot  but 
scent  from  afar  that,  after  a repetition  of  the  old  pretext  of  the 
wolf  and  the  lamb  by  the  brook,  and  after  a series  of  heartrending 
mock  trials  and  nightly  meetings,  and  under  a continuous  fire  of  false 
accusations  and  libellous  articles  in  the  press,  etc.,  they  would  have 
me  hounded,  excommunicated  and  utterly  degraded,  so  as  to  collect 
another  ‘ ‘ rare  ’ ’ flower  for  my  ‘ ‘ funeral,  ’ ’ I being  not  fit  to  be  retained 
even  as  an  ordinary  member  of  an  Augustana  congregation. 

In  1890,  while  Rev.  M.  J.  Englund  was  superintendent  of  the 
Orphans’  Home  at  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  and  Rev.  Aslev  was  a student- 
preacher  in  the  Warren  District,  where  Rev.  Norden  then  was  pastor 
at  Ridgeway,  Pa.,  the  latter  araigned  me  for  being  avaricious  if  I did 
not  abandon  my  exceedingly  bright  future  in  store  in  the  large  James- 
town congregation,  where  I had  worked  for  a year  as  assistant  to  the 
aged  pastor,  Rev.  Hultgren.  Finally  I yielded  to  Norden ’s  entreaties 
and  moved  to  the  place  he  had  arranged  for  me,  Mt.  Jewett,  Pa. 
Notwithstanding  this,  that  I had  yielded  to  his  overtures,  he  en- 
deavored to  persuade  the  Mt.  Jewett  people  that  they  were  giving 
me  a larger  salary  than  they  ought  to,  the  people,  however,  replying 
that  they  will  stick  to  the  promise  stated  in  the  call  extended  to  me. 

By  the  way,  at  that  same  meeting,  the  members  insisting  on  that  on  a 
previous  occasion,  and  in  my  presence,  Norden  said  what  he  now  flatly 
repudiates,  he  demanded  me  to  stand  up  and  give  witness  to  the 
truth.  Being  merely  a candidate  for  the  ministry,  and  knowing  that 
Norden  was  backed  up  by  the  ministerial  bosses,  I was  in  a veritable 
rub.  According  to  Luke  12 : 11,  I could,  however,  relate  how  once  in 
1880,  in  a Boston  boarding-house,  I was  so  distracted  as  to  repeatedly 
ask  for  “butter,”  while  all  the  time  thinking  that  I mentioned  the 
wanted  ‘ ‘ sugar,  ’ ’ so  that  it  may  be  possible  for  a man  to  say  something 
he  did  not  think  he  said. 

Norden  also  wanted  me  to  excommunicate  a member  of  that  con- 
gregation because,  according  to  him,  the  “sects”  will  look  down  upon 
our  Lutheran  Church  for  having  a member  allowing  dancing  and  beer- 


83 


drinking  at  his  home.  To  carry  out  such  Norden ’s  dictum  would, 
among  other  things,  also  deprive  that  man’s  family  from  attending 
services,  Sunday-school,  etc.,  wherefore,  following  my  own  discretion, 

I had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  man  won  for  the  cause  of  true 
temperance  and  the  cause  of  the  Church,  though  he  could  not  be  per- 
suaded from  stating  that  Norden  is  foxy,  evidently  meaning  that 
Norden  wanted  me  in  titubations  and  wrong  steps. 

“True  and  Undefiled  Religion.” 

Thus,  all  things  considered,  even  if  by  yielding  and  delivering  my- 
self up  into  the  hands  of  the  insanity  commission  this  Norden  is  now 
shepherding,  I may  be  strong  enough  to  stand  the  strain  of  being 
jaded  anew,  there  is,  however,  a limit  to  the  power  of  endurance  of 
my  children’s  mother,  who  already  too  long  has  been  writhing  under 
their  relentless  inhumanities,  though  otherwise  she  would  have  been 
as  strong  as  the  majority  of  the  ministers’  wives. 

The  God  of  mercy  and  truth  has  given  me,  too,  sacred  duties  to 
perform,  duties  to  my  family,  higher  than  the  creeds  coarse-grained 
natures  so  often  are  using  as  a cloak  for  their  lack  of  charity. 

Merely  the  circumstance  that  we  are  closely  watched  is  about  all 
the  strain  of  that  nature  Mrs.  Holmgren  is  able  to  stand.  It  ought 
to  be  plenty  enough  that  we  do  not  dare  to  attend  services  in  any  of 
the  other  Concord  churches,  since  Norden  then  would  be  supplied  with 
“welcome”  opportunities  for  retarding  and  checking  the  forthcom- 
ing of  the  speedy  succor  needed,  just  as,  evidently  in  their  hopes  to 
outlaw  me  by  drawing  out  the  time,  he  caused  the  president  of  the 
Boston  District,  Rev.  J.  A.  Bernhard,  as  a defender  of  “true  and 
undefiled  religion,”  ex-officio  to  start  the  preliminary  inquiries  pre- 
ceding the  pending  public  interdict,  all  on  the  strength  of  the  stretched 
reports  that  my  children  attend  the  Sunday-school  of  an  Episcopal 
church,  which  report  caused  me  to  print  the  Second  Supplement, 
dated  September  27,  1907,  in  order  to  counteract  the  injury  such 
Norden ’s  communications  would  else  have  wrought  by  retarding  and 
checking  the  forthcoming  of  the  promised  $2  from  each  of  the  nearly 
600  pastors,  which  promise  and  resolution  followed  upon  the  issue  of* 
my  first  circulars  and  appeared  to  me  as -preliminary  steps  to  pay  at 
least  the  debts  of  about  $3,000  the  blacklisters  have  dragged  me  into. 

Forsooth,  these  undermining  stretched  reports  of  the  blacklisters 
are,  above  all,  debarring  me  from  what  is  preeminently  needed,  i.  e., 
the  ministers’  unanimous  commendation  before  a duped  people  as  to 
my  competency  to  fill  any  vacancy  that  would  secure  for  me  an  income 


84 


large  enough  to  do  away  with  all  disgracing  alms,  which  latter  are 
a means  of  throwing  a veil  over  the  wounds  so  ruthlessly  made  on 
helpless  brethren  on  the  Jericho  road. 

Oil,  Wine  and  Vinegar. 

On  his  death-bed,  Eev.  T.  0.  Linell,  of  Gardner,  Mass.,  related  to 
me  that  at  his  visit  from  Boston,  Mass.,  Rev.  Johansson  expressed 
his  belief  that  Linell’s  stroke  of  paralysis,  received  in  1907,  was  a re- 
sult from  the  ill  treatment  relating  to  his  removal  from  North  Easton, 
Mass.,  Linell’s  former  charge;  Linell  deploring  that  Nelsenius,  the 
Conference  president,  had  denied  him,  Linell,  the  backing  needed  to 
weather  the  opposition  waged  by  a couple  of  the  North  Easton  parish 
leaders.  According  to  Linell,  one  of  these  inimical  leaders  communi- 
cated with  Rev.  J.  A.  Anderson  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  where  he  also 
received  the  looked  for  encouragement,  while  on  the  other  hand,  hav- 
ing communicated  with  the  recently  ordained  fine-grained  Rev.  Mor- 
ton of  Providence,  R.  I.,  the  response  was  that  Linell  was  Morton’s 
friend  and  that  no  encouragement  could  be  had  from  Morton. 

Comparing  the  cold  treatment,  Linell  previously  received  at  the 
hands  of  hegemonical  bosses,  with  the  recent  hurried  efforts  to  take 
up  contributions  of  several  hundred  dollars  for  Mrs.  Linell,  besides 
even  prevailing  upon  the  king  of  Sweden  to  make  the  young  Rev. 
Morton  a. knight  of  Vasa,  a rare  honor  only  bestowed  upon  two  other 
of  the  Augustana  pastors  and  chums  of  Doctor  Lindberg,  it  looks 
to  me  as  my  coarse-grained  blacklisted  were  unnaturally  straining 
themselves  to  muzzle  important  testimonials,  Mrs.  Linell  and  Rev. 
Morton  being  now,  since  the  death  of  Linell,  direct  witnesses  as  to  the 
corroborating  statements  of  Linell  as  to  the  character  of  certain  lead- 
ers, etc.,  Mrs.  Linell  being  already  won  to  their  side,  judging  from 
the  circumstance  that  in  April,  1908,  wdien  the  Gardner  congregation 
was  on  the  verge  of  extending  its  call  to  me,  she  told  one  of  the 
deacons  that  it  would  be  unwise,  as  I cannot  stay  long  in  any  place, 
etc. 

When  some  of  the  members  related  this  to  me,  it  wTas  also  stated 
* that  two  years  previous,  wrhen  this  Gardner  congregation  w^as  on  the 
verge  of  calling  a pastor,  a prominent  member  arose  and  asked  why 
the  people  could  not  extend  a call  to  me,  who  at  that  time  had  been 
recommended  by  Nelsenius,  the  Conference  president;  the  presiding 
pastor  at  that  meeting,  Rev.  Beckman,  replying  that  they  ought  not 
to  call  me  because  of  my  large  family.  Thus  it  was  easy  to  under- 
stand why  Nelsenius  could  write,  April  14,  1905 : 


85 


I recommended  you  to  the  Gardner  congregation,  but  they  turned  their 
own  way. 

The  above  is  another  proof  as  to  that  the  brethren  take  back  with 
one  hand  what  is  given  with  the  other. 

Signal  it  is  that  though,  after  Linell’s  stroke  of  paralysis,  I labored 
in  Gardner  from  August,  1907,  to  July,  1908,  the  president  of  that 
district,  Rev.  Engstrand  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  the  son-in-law  of 
Rev.  Johansson  in  Boston,  in  his  reports  and  statements  in  the  official 
paper  of  that  district,  did  not  mention  me  as  having  gratuitously  re- 
sponded to  LinelTs  entreaties  and  appeals  to  assist  him  during  his 
sickness  and  distress.  Neither  did  he  mention  that  finally  I re- 
ceived a call  from  Gardner  to  be  the  permanent  pastor  of  the  place, 
and  that  the  district  wished  to  extend  its  welcome  to  me.  On  the 
other  hand,  without  God’s  direct  intervention,  they  having  secured 
for  my  Concord  successor,  Rev.  Norden,  a call  to  the  large  Swedish- 
Einnish  congregation  of  Gardner,  this  president  at  once  publishes 
his  hope  that  Norden  will  accept,  and  that  the  district  extends  to 
him  a hearty  welcome.  No  wonder  that  the  people  have  to  look  up  to 
such  a well  recommended  and  backed  up  man ; and  that  on  account  of 
previous  experiences  it  was  of  no  use  for  me  to  accept  the  call  to 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church  of  Gardner,  though  if  I had  been 
backed  up  by  the  brethren,  both  that  parish  and  the  larger  Swedish- 
Einnish  congregation  of  that  town  would  have  united  under  one  pas- 
tor, which  in  this  case  would  have  been  me,  who  already  for  eleven 
months  successfully  served  the  smaller  one  of  the  two. 

Nay,  even  the  Synod’s  organ,  Augustana,  is  no  longer  sent  free  to 
me,  they  claiming  that  it  is  sent  to  pastors  of  the  Synod  only. 

If  ministerial  ring-leaders  deprive  an  old  experienced  pastor  of  the 
needed  moral  and  financial  support,  thereby  cheering  selfish  parish 
leaders  or  owners,  perhaps  desirous  of  securing  unmarried  pastors  or 
seminary  students  to  court  damsels  of  the  congregation,  to  be  instru- 
mental in  getting  rid  of  such  aged  brother  merely  in  order  to  lure 
young  students  to  congregate  at  the  feet  of  Doctor  Lindberg,  clamor- 
ing that  there  are  so  many  fat  parishes  waiting  for  them,  these  med- 
dlers or  leaders,  so  anxious  to  secure  a D.  D.  or  other  honors  for 
“faithful”  service,  are  greatly  mistaken  if  believing  that  such  will 
forever  increase  their  patron’s  and  tutelary  saint’s  power  and  influ- 
ence to  do  them  a turn  again. 

The  young  men  really  worth  having,  those  enabled  to  build  up  a con-  * 
gregation  and  add  to  the  wealth  and  strength  of  the  Synod,  will 
gradually  become  scared  away  the  more  they  see  men  dumped  at  a 


86 


time  they  are  most  in  need  of  moral  and  financial  backing,  so  as  to 
increase  their  usefulness  and  hold  on  the  people;  not  to  mention  the 
need  of  retaining  a calling  when  they  are  most  in  need  of  keeping  it 
instead  of  being  dumped,  at  best,  merely  to  receive  some  high-sound- 
ing alms. 

So,  in  1904,  my  son  having  heard  Rev.  Anderson  of  Brockton,  Mass., 
vociferously  vilify  me  for  having  taken  care  of  the  New  Sweden  cat- 
tle, reported  to  his  mother  what  he  had  heard  while  on  a visit  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  he  also  asking  what  his  father  had  done  to  draw  upon 
him  such  hatred.  I then  wrote  to  the  Conference  president  for  pro- 
tection, at  the  same  time  sending  him  the  letter  from  the  owner  of 
the  cow  that  had  been  milked. 

As  a result  of  this,  Rev.  Anderson  asked  if  I were  satisfied  with  a 
collection  taken  up  in  all  the  congregations  of  the  district.  As,  at  the 
same  time,  the  other  brethren  of  the  Boston  District  began  to  assert 
that  something  substantial  must  be  done,  one  of  them  stating  that  each 
pastor  ought  to  give  $5,  and  the  parishes  accordingly,  I did  not  know 
what  to  say,  simply  hoping  that  they  would  admit  that  it  was  not  dis- 
gracing alms,  but  a brother’s  hand  to  restore  to  me  my  former  stand- 
ing that  was  needed. 

The  outcome  of  this  display  of  sympathy  turned  out  to  be  merely 
$100,  besides  giving  the  leaders  an  opportunity  of  publishing  what 
a brotherly  love  prevails  in  the  Boston  District,  such  aids  more  re- 
minding of  the  vinegar  offered  Christ  on  the  Cross  than  the  oil  and 
wine,  etc.,  offered  by  the  Samaritan  to  the  wounded  man  on  the  Jeri- 
cho road. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Do  not  be  afraid;  do  not  cry  out,  for  life  is  good.  I come  from  low  down, 
from  the  cellar  of  life,  where  darkness  and  terror  reign,  where  man  is  half 
beast,  and  life  is  only  a fight  for  bread.  It  flows  slowly  there,  in  dark 
streams,  but  even  there  beauty  and  love  exist.  Everywhere  that  man  is  found, 
good  is,  in  tiny  particles  and  invisible  roots — but  still  it  is  there.  All  these 
roots  will  not  perish.  Some  will  grow  and  flourish  and  bear  fruit.  I bought 
dearly  the  right  to  believe  this,  therefore  it  is  mine  my  whole  life  long.  And 
thus  I have  won  yet  another  right,  the  right  to  demand  that  you,  too,  believe 
as  I do,  for  I am  the  voice  of  that  life,  the  despairing  cry  of  those  who  remain 
below  and  who  have  sent  me  to  herald  their  pain.  They  also  long  to  rise  to 
self-respect,  to  light  and  freedom. 

From,  Gorky's  Suppressed  Novel. 

President  Taft's  Statement. 

How  wrong  of  these  blacklisters  to  now  publicly  degrade  me  as  be- 
ing deposed  for  having  sent  out  these  appeals,  these  circulars,  I having 
merely  endeavored  to  defend  my  home,  my  creditors,  who  with  me 
have  believed  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  ministers ; nay,  principles 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  cause  of  country  and  Christ ! How 
mean  of  them  to  jump  on  the  circumstance  that  the  Third  Supple- 
ment is  dated  'in  October,  while  in  fact  it  was  not  mailed,  nay,  not 
even  printed,  before,  on  the  9th  of  this  November,  the  summons  came 
for  me  to  face  the  charges  in  regard  to  sending  my  children  to  the 
Episcopal  Church,  this  Third  Supplement  being  an  appeal  for  an  open 
trial  to  avoid  star  chamber  hearings,  such  as  the  fictitious  trial  in  the 
night  of  November  19-20,  1907. 

What  do  they  mean  by  now  publishing  in  two  hemispheres  that  my 
circular  statements  cannot  be  maintained  as  true  ? Are  they  to  hood- 
wink, nay,  even  threaten  certain  individuals  to  not  remember  any- 
thing? Are  they  to  become  perjurers,  notwithstanding  the  risk  they 
run  thereby?  Are  they  simply  relying  on  President  Taft’s  assertion 
that  delay  always  works  to  the  detriment  of  the  poor  litigant?  Is  it 
because  they  have  recently  sent  away  to  India  one  of  my  best  wit- 
nesses, Dr.  C.  W.  Foss,  the  ex-president  of  the  school  at  Rock  Island, 
111.? 

Though  another  of  the  teachers  of  that  school,  Doctor  Williamson, 
is  dead,  there  must  still  be  others  from  those  days  I attended  that  in- 
stitution willing  to  testify  to  my  sympathy  and  love  towards  the 


88 


original  blacklisted,  they  having  had  no  cause  whatever  for  throwing 
out  such  leaven  of  acrimony. 

So,  for  instance,  I had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  dismissal 
of  Missionary  Lilja ’s  son,  who  was  dismissed  in  1887.  Upon  the  re- 
quest of  Doctor  Williamson,  the  boy  was  allowed  to  room  with  me.  I 
loved  him,  I prayed  for  him  and  knew  nothing  of  his  wrong-doings,  be- 
fore it  was  reported  to  me  by  Williamson.  And  not  before  the  boy’s 
dismissal  from  the  school  did  it  flash  upon  my  mind  his  doings  of  a 
similar  nature  at  the  time  I had  resided  in  the  home  of  Lilja  at 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  when  Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg,  then  president  of  the 
New  York  Conference  and  the  patron  and  staunch  protector  of  Lilja, 
fetched  the  prodigal  from  Philadelphia  back  to  his  parents. 

Lindberg,  Lilja,  Englund,  et  Comp. 

Twenty-one  years  ago,  during  my  first  school  year  at  Rock  Island, 
111.,  a newcomer  from  Sweden,  now  the  to  Sweden  returned  Rev.  G. 
Juhlin,  stated  before  students  that  the  still  unordained  emigrant-mis- 
sionary Lilja  averred  that,  actuated  by  base  motives,  I had  appeared 
at  the  Synod’s  school  to  prepare  for  the  ministry.  Besides  such  and 
similar  tactics,  the  professor  in  Swedish  and  Christianity,  Rev.  C.  M. 
Esbjorn,  and  his  temporary  assistant,  the  seminary  student  Zetter- 
strand,  tried  to  so  discourage  me  that,  if  the  other  professors  had  not 
time  and  again  reassured  me  of  the  Synod’s  need  of  me,  I would  have 
returned  to  finish  my  preparations  for  entering  mechanical  engineer- 
ing. That  such  initiatory  blacklisting  was  the  leaven,  the  foghorn  sig- 
nal, the  precursor  or  harbinger,  of  the  subsequent  incessant  stone- 
throwing, is  obvious  enough. 

Having  previously  assisted  Lindberg  while  clerking  in  a Pennsyl- 
vania coal  mine,  in  1882  Lilja  had  quit  his  work  as  a street  car  con- 
ductor and  was  assisted  to  the  position  as  a solicitor  of  funds  for  the 
Swedish  church  of  Philadelphia.  While  working  in  this  capacity, 
Lindberg,  then  pastor  in  New  York,  N.  Y.,  took  Lilja  up  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  Philadelphia  to  ask  that  collections  be  taken 
up  in  the  Catholic  churches  for  the  Lutheran  church  of  Philadelphia. 
The  reply  was : 

My  dear  brother  Lindberg,  you  know  very  well  that  I cannot  do  that;  you 
know  that.  But  here  is  $5  as  my  private  contribution. 

Subsequently,  after  Lilja  had  moved  to  Brooklyn  and  was  by 
Lindberg  assisted  to  the  position  as  emigrant-missionary  at  Castle 
Garden,  conflicts  arose  between  Lindberg  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Rodell, 


89 


Brooklyn,  the  latter  claiming  that  in  matters  pertaining  to  marriages, 
baptisms,  etc.,  Linclberg  trespassed  upon  the  territory  of  Brooklyn. 

Sympathizing  with  Rodell,  who  had  a family  to  support  besides  fail- 
ing in  health,  and  I being  a member  of  his  congregation,  I consoled 
Rodell  as  much  as  possible,  endeavoring  at  the  same  time  to  put  the 
best  constructions  upon  his  rival’s  doings,  stating  that  on  account  of 
Lindberg  ?s  dignified  bearing  people  will,  as  a rule,  look  up  to  him  as 
a natural  leader,  he  himself  at  the  same  time  taking  things  joke- 
fully,  as,  for  instance,  his  visit  to  the  Roman  Catholic  prelate  indi- 
cates. When  Lilja  himself  did  not  seem  to  make  any  secret  of  that 
visit  to  that  bishop,  can  it  be  possible  that  having  mentioned  it  to 
Rodell  I am  also  for  such  reasons  to  be  frozen  out  of  my  calling  ? 

I have  been  requested  to  explain  why,  having  entered  the  ministry 
through  no  back  door,  but  through  years  of  the  hardest  studies,  I am 
a crow  to  be  plucked.  I must  confess  that  to  explain  this  is  a difficult 
task  without  risking  to  do  possible  injustice  to  Lindberg,  whom  I love 
as  a fellow-pilgrim  towards  eternity.  The  desperate  condition  I am 
brought  into  compels  me,  however,  to  divulge  my  own  theories  in  the 
matter,  while  leaving  to  Lindberg  and  those,  who  have  had  anything 
to  do  with  him  in  these  lines,  to  judge  how  near  these  views  are  to  the 
real  thing. 


The  Ascendency  of  Lindberg. 

According  to  certain  mental  sciences : 

There  are  individuals  endowed  with  such  large  development  of  brain  mat- 
ters in  the  faculty  of  the  self-esteem  that  in  their  magnificent  notions  of  their 
own  respectability  they  are  prompted,  in  comparing  themselves  with  others,  to 
depreciate  them,  in  order  to  raise  themselves  in  the  scale  of  comparative  ex- 
cellence. Inferior  talents,  combined  with  a strong  endowment  of  self-esteem, 
are  often  crowned  with  far  higher  success  than  more  splendid  abilities  joined 
with  this  sentiment  in  a feebler  degree. 

In  this  connection  we  may  here  refer  to  that  when,  through  the 
influence  of  the  chums,  especially  in  the  New  York  Conference,  in 
1890  Lindberg  walked  into  the  chair  as  doctor  in  dogmatics  at  the 
Rock  Island  Seminary,  the  editor  of  the  Synod’s  organ  in  those  days, 
Dr.  S.  P.  A.  Lindahl,  at  a party  ridiculed  the  absent  Lindberg  for  his 
lack  of  genuine  college  erudition,  manifested  by,  for  instance,  Lind- 
berg’s  way  of  pronouncing  the  word  “cholera.” 

As,  according  to  the  referred  to  mental  sciences,  envy  is  the  result 
of  Self-esteem  offended  by  the  excellence  or  superior  happiness  of 
others,  and  calling  up  Destructiveness  to  hate  them,  such  may  there- 


90 


fore  be  the  reason  that  when  entering  the  seminary,  in  1890,  after 
I had  told  Lindberg  that  the  usual  printed  biographies  of  the  out- 
going class  of  ministers  would  at  all  events  render  me  due  credit  be- 
fore the  uninitiated  public,  that  I have  spent  3rears  and  years  on* 
school  benches  to  prepare  for  my  calling  in  life,  and  that  he  ought  to 
consider  it  a waste  of  time,  at  my  advanced  age,  to  spend  two  or  three 
years  in  the  seminary,  when  I am  not  only  able  but  also  willing  to 
go  through  the  seminary  subjects,  though  in  less  time  than  the  stud- 
ents who  have  not  spent  so  many  years  as  I have  in  preliminary 
studies,  Lindberg  then  met  me  with  the  disdainful  dictum  that  such 
biographies  will  be  discontinued,  something  similar  to  the  derisive 
laughter  Lindberg ’s  chum,  Rev.  C.  M.  Esbjorn,  greeted  me  with  in 
1887  while  Lindberg  still  was  pastor  in  New  York  City  and  I had  en- 
tered the  Rock  Island  College;  I having  already  in  1882  met  this 
Esbjorn,  together  with  Lilja,  Lindberg,  Englund  and  Petri  at  Phila- 
delphia. Thus,  in  1890,  seeing  the  ever-increasing  ascendency  of 
Lindberg,  I began  to  brood  over  the  uselessness  of  preparing  for 
the  ministry,  as,  no  matter  what  I did  in  order  to  become  efficient  and 
deserving,  the  spirit  of  detraction  would  finally  blacklist  me  out  of 
my  calling  and  belongings,  and  that,  at  such  time  I most  of  all  needed 
to  retain  my  hold.  So,  for  instance,  in  one  of  his  letters,  Rev.  Frank 
Swensson  states : 

Our  system  of  promotion  is  condemnable.  If  only  one  is  on  good  terms  with 
the  big  ones,  there  is  no  difficulty,  even  if  one  is  not  much  of  a pastor. 

Therefore,  my  destiny  being  in  the  hands  of  Lindberg  and  his 
satellites,  they  also  being  averse  to  me,  such  divinations  so  engrossed 
my  thoughts  that  either  must  the  engagement  with  my  betrothed, 
entered  while  I prepared  for  the  mechanical  engineering,  be  broken, 
I having  no  moral  right  to  expose  a family  to  the  persecutions  that 
would  surely  follow;  or  else  I had  to  give  up  the  thoughts  of  enter- 
ing the  ministry. 

As  a preliminary  withdrawal  and  getting  away  from  the  immediate 
influence  of  my  friends  and  backers  at  the  school,  such  as  the  two 
presidents,  Hasselquist  and  Foss,  I sympathetically  responded  to  an 
urgent  call  for  a seminary  preacher  to  serve  the  large  First  Lutheran 
Church  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  whose  aged  pastor  was  dangerously  ill, 
the  fall  term,  1890. 

As  only  a physician’s  letter  could  prevail  upon  Doctor  Hassel- 
quist to  let  me  leave,  such  was,  however,  an  easy  matter,  as  in  this 
slough  of  despondency,  I could  claim  it  to  be  almost  impossible  to  get 
any  sleep,  which  might  end  in  nervous  prostration. 


91 


Though  even  here  at  Jamestown  the  influence  of  this  bossism  was 
felt  in  the  person  of  Lindberg’s  chum,  -Rev.  Englund,  then  superin- 
tendent of  the  New  York  Conference  Orphans’  Home  at  Jamestown, 
N.  Y.,  the  love  and  favors  encircling  me  in  the  large  Jamestown  par- 
ish cheered  and  strengthened  me  to  abide  with  the  wishes  of  my  con- 
genial teachers  and  friends,  etc. ; in  all  this  also  strongly  backed  up 
by  my  wife,  who,  in  her  childish  faith  in  the  angeldom  of  ministry, 
could  not  comprehend  the  sanity  of  my  grave  apprehensions  as  to  the 
future,  that  the  ring-leaders  should  even  make  use  of  my  family  as  a 
co-agency  to  rob  me  of  my  God-given  calling. 

B.  D.,  D.  D.,  R.  N.  0.,  T.  F.,  Etc. 

At  a visit  to  my  Jamestown  home,  and  seeing  my  college  diploma, 
Englund  asked  me  if  I did  not  think  that  he,  too,  could  get  such  a 
diploma,  he  thereby  linking  my  thoughts  to  that  those  who  earn  it 
will  get  it  in  the  ordinary  way,  while  others,  who  are  chums  of  Lind- 
berg,  etc.,  will  not  only  get  such,  but  still  higher  titles  of  honor. 

This  Englund  has  recently  walked  into  the  chair  as  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Synod’s  paper,  Augustana,  and  as  a preliminary  step 
is  just  awarded  the  title  D.  D.  from  some  institution  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  Lindberg’s  and  comp,  influence  is  prevailing. 

Lindberg  has  also  elevated  Lilja  into  the  ministry,  this  favored 
man  running  abreast  and  coming  up  to  the  same  thing  and  more  than 
I,  who  also  in  pursuance  to  Lindberg’s  course  of  proceedings,  belong 
to  “the  other  graduates”  from  the  seminary. 

Doctor  Nelsenius,  the  New  York  Conference  president,  has  recently 
received  two  D.  D.  titles,  while  M.  Lonner,  who  was  strongly  ad- 
monished by  worthy  professors  at  the  Synod’s  school  to  not  enter  the 
ministry,  is  assisted  to  good  charges,  and  who  writes  to  me,  who  has 
passed  through  the  preliminary  studies,  that  the  man  who  takes  good 
care  of  himself  has  a bright  future  in  store  in  the  Synod;  he  at  the 
same  time  upbraiding  me  for  not  providing  for  my  family. 

This  crushing  of  me,  who  through  hard  work  has  endeavored  to 
make  myself  worthy  of  good  marks,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ele- 
vation of  a circle  of  satellites,  to  a certain  extent  having  entered 
the  ministry  through  the  back  door,  may  be  caused  by  Lindberg’s 
natural  disposition  to  measure  himself  by  himself  and  to  condemn  the 
opinion  of  all  those  who  differ  from  him.  Therefore,  such  men  also 
set  the  opinions  of  society  proudly  at  defiance. 

So,  for  instance,  at  the  time  he  was  unaware  that  I was  a crow  to 
be  plucked  by  the  ring,  Doctor  Nelsenius  informed  me  that  when  a 


92 


certain  congregation  out  West  was  on  the  verge  of  calling  a certain 
pastor,  in  the  decisive  moment  a despatch  from  Lindberg  changed 
their  decision,  this  especially  as  the  votes  are  not  cast  as  in  presidential 
elections,  but  by  saying  aye  or  no;  and  who  would  openly  dare  to 
oppose  such  a dignified  man,  who  upholds  a system  of  promotion, 
which,  to  use  the  expression  of  brethren,  is  condemnable;  Lindberg 
having  also  alongside  of  his  other  methods  secured  for  himself  the 
right  of  dividing  the  graduates  of  the  seminary  into  two  classes,  “the 
other  graduates”  and  “the  graduates,”  the  latter  having  graduated 
after  my  time,  and  not  debarred  from  the  privilege  of  being  adver- 
tised with  a B.  D.  sign  affixed  to  their  names  in  the  public  records  of 
the  Synod. 

It  is,  of  course,  an  easy  matter  for  these  chums  to  tell  me  to  leave 
my  calling  and  do  something  else,  they  not  considering  that,  while  it 
has  cost  them  comparatively  nothing  to  prepare  for  it,  I have  spent 
years  and  years  in  preparations,  also  taking  the  studies  seriously. 

In  1890,  one  of  the  school  presidents,  owing  to  my  age  and  previous 
studies,  and  also  my  head  for  studies,  advised  me  to  not  spend  any 
time  at  all  in  the  theological  seminary,  but  to  pass  through  a special 
examination  in  what  they  call  the  minimum  course.  At  that  juncture, 
a warm  friend  of  Lindberg,  Dr.  C.  A.  Evald,  Chicago,  111.,  wrote  me 
that  I will  greatly  regret  if  I do  not  take  the  full  course,  and  graduate 
from  the  seminary. 

Having  finally  acceded  to  this  latter  advice,  and  being  a graduate, 
I do  not  only  find  myself  deprived  of  the  advertisement  of  a B.  D.  in 
the  public  records,  but  deprived  of  all  other  requisite  moral  and 
financial  backing;  nay,  dumped  in  a most  inhuman  manner.  If  I 
had  spent  less  time  for  preparations,  it  would  have  been  much  easier 
to  weather  these  attacks  of  the  blacklisters,  who  bask  in  the  sunshine 
of  Lindberg ’s  favor  and  protection,  and  who  have  taken  advantage  of 
my  willingness  to  serve,  and  then  withdraw  from  me  the  needed  pre- 
requisites to  get  along. 

Here  we  may  again  refer  to  the  assertions  made  by  the  president  of 
Brown  University : 

Every  man  is,  by  the  laws  of  his  Creator,  entitled  to  the  physical  results  of 
his  labors.  . . . The  industrious  student  is  entitled  not  merely  to  the 

use  of  that  knowledge  which  he  has  acquired,  but  also  to  the  estimation  which 
the  possession  of  that  knowledge  gives  him  among  men.  Now  these  sec- 
ondary and  indirect  results  are  as  truly  effects  of  the  character  and  actions 
of  the  man  himself,  and  they  as  truly  belong  to  him,  as  the  primary  and  di- 
rect results  of  which  we  have  spoken.  And  hence  to  diminish  the  esteem  in 
which  a man  is  held  by  his  fellows,  to  detract  from  the  reputation  which  he 
has  thus  acquired,  is  as  great  a violation  of  justice,  nay,  it  may  be  a far 


93 


greater  violation  of  justice  than  robbing  him  of  money.  It  has,  moreover, 
the  additional  aggravation  of  conferring  no  benefit  upon  the  aggressor  beyond 
that  of  the  gratification  of  a base  and  malignant  envy. 

When,  for  instance,  the  chum  of  Lindberg,  Doctor  Forsander,  as 
teacher  in  church  history,  etc.,  claimed  that,  though  my  final  examina- 
tions entitled  me  to  the  highest  marks,  he  could  not  grant  me  anything 
but  much  lower  marks  because  I had  spent  merely  three  terms  in  the 
seminary,  I may  here  ask  why  then  could  the  faculty  of  the  school 
confer  upon  Doctor  Lindberg  and  chums  a graduation  diploma  from 
the  college  department,  though,  according  to  the  reports  in  the  papers 
a few  years  ago,  when  this  took  place,  Lindberg,  etc.,  were  not  students 
of  the  college,  but  doctor,  etc.,  in  dogmatics  in  the  seminary  depart- 
ment? 

By  the  way,  it  may  here  be  mentioned  that  at  leaving  the  school 
of  the  institution  in  several  instances  I had  received  lower  marks  than 
I had  deserved ; yea,  even  still  lower  marks  in  the  books  of  the  institu- 
tion than  were  recorded  in  my  college  diploma,  which  fact  was  acci- 
dentally revealed  to  me  when  a few  years  ago  I asked  for  a duplicate 
of  this  diploma. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


He  has  sounded  forth  a trumpet  that  shall  never  call  “retreat”; 

He  is  searching  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  His  judgment  seat. 

Be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him;  be  jubilant  my  feet; 

While  God  is  marching  on. 

Glory!  Glory!  Hallelujah! 

Glory!  Glory!  Hallelujah! 

Glory!  Glory!  Hallelujah! 

His  truth  is  marching  on. 

Stricken,  Smitten  of  God  and  Afflicted. 

Dr.  A.  Bergin  of  Lindsborg,  Kan.,  who  at  a visit  in  Concord  in- 
formed Mrs.  Holmgren  that,  seeing  that  I am  of  a balanced  mind,  it 
will  be  his  duty  to  endeavor  to  counteract  the  slanderous  reports  cur- 
rent out  West  that  I am  demented;  and,  sympathizing  with  us,  writes 
and  asks  me  why  I am  not  willing  to  suffer  martyrdom. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  all  my  life  I have  patiently  submitted 
to  the  abuses  from  the  coarse-grained  people  I have  had  to  deal  with, 
so  that  a man  of  my  age,  and  furthermore  with  such  a large  family 
to  provide  for,  by  this  time  ought  to  be  pretty  near  done  up  and 
crippled  as  a consequence  of  these  abuses.  In  my  desire  to  make 
others  happy,  I have  also  kept  away  from  complaining  when  it  mat- 
ters my  own  self.  This,  though  well-known  pastors  of  the  Synod, 
such  as  Rev.  G.  E.  Forsberg,  for  years  one  of  the  executive  officers  of 
the  New  York  Conference,  writes  me : 

I deplore  that  you  have  met  with  such  ill  turns.  Thus  you,  too,  have  caught 
a glimpse  of  the  hearts  of  Ahlquist,  Anderson  and  Kjellstrand.  It  seems  that 
Kjellstrand  ill  requitted  you  for  the  hospitality  which  he  and  his  young  dame 
(second  wife)  enjoyed  at  your  (Newport)  home;  and  that  the  Conference  ill 
requits  you  for  your  sedulous,  faithful  and  sacrificing  work  in  Newport.  In 
rich  measure  you  have  experienced  the  truth  of  the  old  saying  that  ingratitude 
is  the  recompense  or  remuneration  bestowed  by  the  world. 

Delving  into  another  side  of  the  question,  according  to  the  Lutheran 
creed,  we  should  not  have  more  than  one  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions and  bruised  for  our  iniquities;  and  if  we  want  another  one  to 
be  despised  and  rejected  by  men,  we  forget  that  as  chastisement  fell 
upon  those  who  crucified  their  best  friend,  certain  destruction  is  also 
in  store  for  those  who  again  “esteem  a man  stricken,  smitten  of  God 
and  afflicted, ’ 1 as  it  was  said  of  our  only  Saviour.  In  the  comparative 


95 


ease  and  plenty  you  are  enjoying  life,  you  do  not  see  the  danger  as 
your  brother,  “taken  away  by  oppression  and  judgment.”  There  is 
a grievous  correction  for  him  that  forsaketh  the  way;  and  he  that 
hateth  reproof  shall  die. 

It  is  rightly  said,  “It  is  not  desirable  to  yield  to  others  when  they 
are  wrong,  merely  for  the  sake  of  peace,  because  abiding  peace  cannot 
be  gained  by  subservience  to  any  form  of  error.  ’ ’ The  issues  involved 
are  not  merely  referring  to  my  own  duty  to  provide  for  my  own  house- 
hold and  for  the  welfare  of  your  future  or  eternal  condition ; but  the 
Bible  tells  me  that  I have  no  right  to  shrink  into  silence,  not  daring 
to  speak  for  those  subjected  to  a reign  of  terror  and  darkness,  con- 
cerning which  Jesus  Christ  says: 

Woe  unto  you  Pharisees!  for  ye  laden  men  with  burdens  grievous  to  be 
borne,  and  ye  yourselves  touch  not  the  burdens  with  one  of  your  fingers. 

With  the  widow,  I have  cast  into  the  temple  treasury  all  the  living 
that  I had.  I cannot  go  any  further.  The  limit  being  reached,  there 
is  nothing  else  but  to  abide  with  the  words  of  Christ,  prescribed  as 
the  text  of  my  inaugural  sermon  at  Concord,  in  1902,  which  text  also 
says : 

Everyone,  therefore,  who  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will  I also  con- 
fess before  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven.  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me 
before  men,  him  will  I also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven. 

If,  while  doing  this,  my  body  is  to  be  killed,  then  and  only  then  am 
I a martyr ; and  such  martyrdom  I am  willing  to  undergo,  if  it  be  His 
will,  who  over  against  the  threats  that  have  been  made  against  me 
asserts,  in  the  same  text : 

And  be  not  afraid  of  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul:  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell.  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a farthing?  and  not  one  of  them  shall 
fall  to  the  ground  without  your  Father:  but  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are 
all  numbered.  Fear  not,  therefore,  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows. 

Neither  does  it  follow,  to  use  the  conclusion  in  Labory’s  defense  of 
Dreyfus : 

That  the  whole  army  is  involved,  because  some  have  shown  too  much 
zeal  and  haste,  and  others  too  much  credulity;  because  there  has  been  a 
serious  forgetfulness  of  right  on  the  part  of  one,  or  of  several.  . . . Let 

your  verdict  signify  several  things:  First,  “Long  live  the  army  (ministry);” 
but  also  “Long  live  the  Republic!  and  long  live  France  (America)!”  That 
is,  gentlemen,  “Long  live  eternal  Justice!” 


96 


The  Augustana  Editors. 

Dr.  M.  J.  Englund,  having  recently  abandoned  his  charge  as  pastor 
in  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  and  having  entered  his  new  field  of  work  as  one  of 
the  editors  of  Augustana , the  Synod’s  organ,  as  one  of  his  first  acts 
permits  the  officials  of  the  New  York  Conference  to  publish  the  dis- 
gracing article  as  to  my  suspension,  thereby  keeping  the  public  and 
the  majority  of  the  brethren  in  the  dark,  and  cutting  off  the  forth- 
coming of  the  urgently  needed  rescue.  This  publication,  though  “de- 
plored ’ ’ by  them,  is  indeed  like  the  ‘ ‘ solemn  discourses,  ’ ’ the  witch  ser- 
mons, preached  by  the  clergy  of  old  and,  connected  with  every  sacri- 
fice, has  the  effect  to  inspire  with  fresh  zeal  to  collect  fuel  for  another. 

Dr.  L.  G.  Abrahamson,  the  chief  editor  of  Augustana,  may  differ 
from  me  in  being  more  exclusive,  still,  he  having  previously  refused  to 
take  in  my  appeals  to  the  Synod,  it  is  hard  for  me  to  think  that  he 
could  have  freely  granted  the  blacklisted  access  to  the  paper,  he 
being  able  to  answer  them  that  it  would  be  much  easier  for  them  than 
for  me  to  employ  private  circulars  to  meet  my  statements.  Already, 
while  pastor  in  Chicago,  Doctor  Abrahamson  has  for  years  and 
years  received  a munificent  income,  not  only  as  pastor,  but  as  treasurer 
of  a large  life  insurance  company,  and  as  promoter  of  land  affairs, 
etc.,  and  thus  while  he  is  living  in  the  profusion  of  plenty,  there  is  a 
likelihood  that  his  large  benevolence  is  prevailing  upon  his  consci- 
entiousness, so  that  he  feels  somewhat  uneasy  to  have  allowed  himself 
to  be  imposed  upon  to  let  an  article  be  published  that  condemns  and 
disgraces  an  outlawed  and  bleeding  brother  on  the  Jericho  road,  a 
brother  whom  his  fine  intellect  tells  him  would,  if  Abrahamson  were 
in  need,  divide  with  him  the  last  loaf. 

Another  thing  it  is  with  Englund,  who,  on  account  of  his  large  or- 
gan of  destructiveness  and  small  organ  of  benevolence,  seems  to  be 
blind  to  the  obligations  of  justice,  piety  and  mercy,  he  evidently  being 
the  most  responsible  for  this  heinous  wrong,  in  full  accordance  with 
the  statement  made  some  years  ago  by  the  former  editor  of  Augustana, 
Dr.  S.  P.  A.  Lindahl,  who  remarked  concerning  this  Englund,  or 
Comes,  as  he  calls  himself: 

Some  years  ago  we  denied  him  the  rights  to  use  the  columns  of  Augustana 
to  blacklist  brethren  in  his  own  conference. 

Rome,  Roosevelt  and  the  Lutheran  Church. 

In  this  his  wanton  love  of  destructiveness  Englund  does  not  even 
spare  the  president  of  the  United  States,  whom  he  now  accuses  as 


97 


one  who  does  not  know  what  he  says.  In  a recent  Augustana  article 
he  goes  on  to  say: 

For  reasons  tangible  to  us,  President  Roosevelt  did  not  reply  to  the  pro- 
test made  by  the  Missouri  Synod.  We  could  not  see  our  way  clear  how  he 
could  do  it  without  considerably  modifying  what  he  erewhile  has  said.  It 
was  not  easy  for  him  to  do  so,  and  he  knows  the  fact  is  that  what  the  pro- 
testing Lutherans  said,  found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of  the  Protestants  of 
the  country.” 

While  Englund  thus  is  slurring  the  president  as  being  in  discord 
with  the  Protestants  of  the  country,  he  forgets  that  there  is  greater 
danger  from  the  blacklisting  slavery  referred  to  in  this  pamphlet  than 
from  the  open  confession  of  the  Roman  Catholics  as  to  that  the  church 
should  rule  the  state,  an  expression  no  doubt  taken  from  the  ideal 
church  as  an  institution  of  charity,  ruling  the  nations  in  the  millen- 
nium. 

President  Roosevelt  knows  that  if  a church  does  not  reign  in  love, 
its  reign  will  be  short  nowadays;  and  that  it  is  the  coarse-grained, 
blacklisting  enemy  to  the  brotherhood  of  man  we  ought  to  go  for,  no 
matter  if  he  hides  himself  in  a church  who  openly  expresses  its  wish 
to  rule,  or  in  a church  where,  behind  the  scenes  and  without  manifest 
proclamations,  some  men’s  innate  desire  to  rule  creeps  out  wherever 
there  is  a chance. 

There  may,  furthermore,  be  times  when  even  Englund  would  admit 
that  it  is  better  to  live  in  a community  where  we  know  who  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  wrong  than  to  have  to,  as  in  my  case,  hunt  in  the  bushes 
for  the  evil-doers,  who  claim  that  nothing  can  be  proven  and  that  they 
are  not  responsible  for  what  predecessors  are  doing  during  their 
ephemeral  reign. 

Bishop  Massillon. 

When  considering  how,  for  instance,  in  1900,  when  at  a district’s 
meeting  I had  been  appointed  to  preach  in  the  church  at  Pontiac, 
R.  I.,  this  Englund  did  hide  my  satchel  with  the  outline  of  my  ser- 
mon, and  how,  according  to  statements  by  the  brethren,  he  afterwards 
falsely  alleged  that  I had  been  so  drunk  at  that  service  that  I had 
taken  on  me  three  collars  instead  of  one ; this,  though  more  than  once 
Mrs.  Holmgren  and  I were  hindering  ministers  and  their  families 
when  before  members  they  ridiculed  this  Englund  as  a man  who  more 
than  once  has  been  reprimanded  for  his  drunkenness.  Yea,  when  I 
consider  this  and  similar  things,  there  cannot  but  be  a cause  for  re- 
joicing that  we  have  a president  of  the  United  States  whose  heart  and 
mind  are  bent  upon  to  extend  the  hand  of  fellowship  in  the  spirit  of 


98 


comradeship  to  every  citizen  in  the  land,  no  matter  if  some  denom- 
inations are  unwarrantly  criticising  his  recent  placing  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  on  the  same  footing  with  the  Protestants.  And  why 
should  he  not?  He  knows  that,  for  instance,  one  of  their  renowned 
leaders,  Bishop  Massillon,  in  his  admonition  to  the  clergy,  asserts : 

There  are  sins  of  which  we  know  not  either  their  enormity  or  extent;  but 
we  know,  O God,  that  to  become  a stumbling-block  to  our  brethren  is  to  over- 
turn for  them  the  work  of  thy  Son’s  mission,  and  to  destroy  the  fruit  of  his 
labors,  of  his  death  and  of  all  his  mission.  Such  is  the  illusion  of  the  pre- 
text which  men  draw  from  the  lightness  of  their  slanders;  the  motives  are 
never  innocent,  the  circumstances  always  criminal,  the  consequences  irrep- 
arable. That  which  at  its  birth  was  only  a private  and  impudent  pleas- 
antry, a malicious  conjecture,  will  become  an  eternal  stain  upon  the  char- 
acter of  your  brother.  Repair  now,  if  you  can,  the  injustice  and  the  scan- 
dal; restore  to  your  brother  the  good  name  of  which  you  have  deprived  him. 
If  whoever  calls  his  brother  a fool,  be  worthy,  according  to  Jesus  Christ,  of 
eternal  fire,  shall  he  who  renders  him  the  contempt  and  laughing-stock 
escape  the  same  punishment?  Do  not  your  brother’s  talents,  character, 
etc.,  hurt  you  more  than  his  faults?  May  your  censures  not  proceed  from 
a secret  jealousy?  Would  Saul  have  so  often  repeated  with  such  pleasure, 
that  David  was  only  the  son  of  Jesse,  had  he  not  considered  him  as  a rival, 
more  deserving  than  himself  of  the  empire?  Elsewhere  you  excuse  every- 
thing, but  here  every  circumstance  comes  empoisoned  from  your  mouth.  The 
more  what  we  censure  is  light,  the  more  is  calumny  to  be  dreaded;  we  must 
embellish  to  attract  attention. 

Now,  in  view  of  that  there  are  whole  sections  of  Protestants  en- 
tirely devoid  of  such  fatherly  advice  to  the  clergy  as  this  bishop’s  ap- 
peals indicate,  there  is  no  wonder  that  a man  like  Roosevelt,  who  wants 
to  give  every  man  a square  deal,  and  finding  good  and  bad  in  every 
section  of  humanity,  calls  it  bigotry  to  discriminate  against  any  of 
the  Christian  churches. 

The  Mission  of  the  Press. 

In  the  article,  “The  Public  Library  as  a Reflector  of  the  Prettiest 
Star  in  the  Star-Spangled  Banner,”  printed  in  the  New  Hampshire 
Public  Libraries’  Bulletin  of  December,  1905,  I have  also  referred  to 
this,  in  the  following  words : 

Criminology  testifying,  that  in  cold-blooded  and  deliberate  murderers  the 
organ  of  benevolence  is  decidedly  deficient,  as  in  tribes  remarkable  for 
Cruelty,  the  latitudinarian  will  furthermore  emphasize,  that  in  the  press- 
devoid  dark  ages  most  palatable  opportunities  were  open  to  such  brutes  to 
join  the  holy  inquisition,  where,  under  the  shelter  of  divine  law,  they  could 
steel  themselves  with  malignity,  and  own  that  man’s  hatred  is  God’s,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  when  a man’s  enemy  is  his  judge,  whatsoever  his 
cause  is,  we  may  foresee  the  sentence;  and  that  a malicious  person  is  as 


99 


fit  and  able  to  make  a right  judgment  of  things,  as  a shaking  hand  to  exact 
measures;  or  a person  that  is  drunk  to  study  mathematics  or  to  resolve 
problems.  And,  according  to  eminent  divines,  when  the  decrees  of  Heaven 
shall  be  examined  by  the  partiality  of  perverse,  malicious  and  discontented 
persons,  we  must  expect  nothing  else  but  the  ugly  issues  of  passion,  dark- 
ness and  confusion. 

However,  in  view  of  the  communications  that  knit  the  nations  closer  to- 
gether, and  the  art  of  printing  that  drags  all  the  doings  of  men  unrevoked 
into  the  open  day,  the  candid  scholar  will  perceive  that  He,  who  has  asserted 
that  the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail  against  his  Church,  is  nowadays 
making  the  dupable  chairs  of  the  apostles  and  church-leaders  rather  too 
hot  or  uncomfortable  to  decidedly  cruel-spirited,  coarse-grained  rogueships. 
Such  are  therefore  doggedly  looking  up  more  petty  but  congenial  places  or 
premises  where  perhaps  as  demagogues  or  ringleaders,  though  compelled  to 
play  hide  and  seek  with  justice,  they  may  dictate  comparatively  unrestricted 
and  uncensured. 

The  renovated  and  disinfected  old  apostolic  chairs  are  thus,  one  by  one, 
being  filled  by  the  originally  designed  brotherhood  of  clear  headed  men  of 
meek,  loving  and  undesigning  disposition  and  skilful  in  the  words  of  right- 
eousness. With  their  respective  talents  complementing  each  other,  such 
divinely  ordained  heads  of  Christendom  are,  under  a prying  censorship, 
becoming  humane  and  compassionate  guardians  of  the  sacerdotal  office. 

The  press  and  the  revival  of  letters  having  been  a means  of  bringing 
about  such  important  radical  changes  within  the  so-called  “high- 
priest-ridden  ’ ’ part  of  Christendom,  why  should  not  these  very  means 
be  commissioned  to  also  accomplish  such  great  improvements  within 
the  so-called  “anarchy-ridden”  division?  A great  cause  for  rejoic- 
ing it  is  also  that  we  have  had,  and  still  are  having,  a president  of 
our  country  disposed  to  remind  us  that  Christianity  is  neither  a 
creed  nor  a ceremonial,  but  a life  vitally  connected  with  a living 
Christ,  that  the  workers  in  the  vineyard  may  wield  the  elements  of 
Christian  achievement  up  to  its  maximum. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


And  though  you  be  done  to  the  death,  what  then? 

If  you  battled  the  best  you  could ; 

If  you  played  your  part  in  the  world  of  men, 

Why,  the  critic  will  call  it  good. 

Death  comes  with  a crawl,  or  comes  with  a pounce, 

And  whether  he’s  slow  or  spry, 

It  isn’t  the  fact  that  you’re  dead  that  counts, 

But  only  how  did  you  die? 

Edmuxd  V.  Cooke. 


The  Rules  of  Ethics  of  Brown  University. 

Remarks  may  be  made  that  the  language  of  this  book  does  not 
tally  with  that  of  a stripped,  bleeding  victim  on  the  Jericho  road.  St. 
Paul  does,  however,  assert : 

We  are  pursued,  yet  not  forsaken;  smitten  down,  yet  not  destroyed; 
death  working  in  us,  but  life  in  you. 

Having  in  vain  endeavored  to  get  this  concio  ad  clerum  printed 
in  a plant  connected  with  the  Synod,  and  having  received  the  reply 
from  a prominent  pastor  of  the  Synod  that  I ought  not  print  this 
book,  as  it  would  do  me  no  good,  I am  bound,  however,  to  also  con- 
sider the  words  of  the  apostle,  that  Christ  died  for  all,  that  they  which 
live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him  who  for  their 
sakes  died  and  rose  again. 

Thus,  notwithstanding  that,  for  instance,  from  a pastor’s  home 
emanates  the  advice  to  not  mind  the  claims  of  my  creditors,  or  that 
of  bleeding  victims  on  the  Jericho  road,  I cannot  be  unscrupulous 
enough  to  evade  appealing  in  behalf  of  those  who  in  several  instances 
during  the  past  nine  years  have  assisted  with  funds,  enabling  me 
to  provide  my  family  with  nurses,  housemaids,  doctors,  etc.,  thereby 
also  keeping  the  ministerial  blacklisted  and  bosses  from  making  it 
appear  that  my  wife’s  contingent  death  should  have  been  caused,  not 
through  their  fiendish  demeanor,  but  merely  through  neglect  on  my 
part.  It  is  against  the  moral  law  to  forget  those  of  my  creditors,  who, 
during  the  past  nine  years  or  more,  have  unsuspectingly  advanced 
funds  to  assist  in  defraying  moving  expenses  from  place  to  place, 
while,  in  order  to  avoid  envious  blacklisted  ’ accusations  that  I have 
troubles  and  difficulties,  I lost  heavily  when  selling,  disposing  and  col- 


101 


lecting  on  household  goods,  previous  and  after  each  removal.  No  con- 
scientious person  will  blame  me  for  making  an  appeal  for  those  who 
also  have  advanced  funds  for  fuel,  food,  clothing,  etc.,  not  only  on  the 
strength  of  statements  made  in  the-  past  by  conscientious  brethren  that 
with  my  income  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  sinking  in  debt,  but  also 
later  on,  on  the  strength  of  the  decision  carried  by  the  Synod  a 
couple  of  years  ago,  that  each  pastor  pay  me  $2;  and  that,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  a more  complete  redress  will  follow  as  soon  as  the 
whole  body  of  ministers  begin  to  consider  that  the  about  $1,200  thus 
promised  in  1907  was  not  to  assist  me  for  being  unfortunate  enough  to 
have  a sick  wife,  etc.,  but  because  the  inhumanities  of  the  bosses  and 
blacklisters  was  causing  such  sickness,  etc.  These,  my  noble  creditors, 
ought  to  be  exempted  from  any  losses  for  having  sided  with  me  in  be- 
lieving in  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  especially  of  ministers.  They 
are  not  brought  up  under  such  a regime,  that  the  weak  should  follow 
4 ‘the  example  of  Christ”  and  meekly  submit  to  the  oppressor,  etc. 
Their  rules  of  ethics  are,  on  the  conrtrary,  those  of  Doctor  Way  land  of 
Brown  University: 

Hence  we  gee  the  error  of  those  who  suppose  that  any  company  of  men 
who  choose  to  organize  a society  for  themselves,  and  who  even  may  settle 
in  the  wilderness  for  this  purpose,  have  a right  to  organize  it  upon  such 
principles  as  they  please.  They  have  no  right  to  form  a society  in  viola- 
tion of  the  social  laws  of  man.  God  evidently  intended  that  man  should 
live  in  society,  and  of  this  right  he  cannot  be  deprived  unless  he  violates 
some  social  law.  His  opinions  and  practices  may  differ  from  ours;  but 
if  he  commits  no  injury,  his  rights  to  the  privileges  of  his  social  nature 
remain  intact.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  say,  if  he  does  not  agree  with 
us,  let  him  form  some  other  society  i;or  himself.  He  has  a right  to  this 
society,  and  as  long  as  he  interferes  with  the  rights  of  no  one,  he  is  as  free 
of  this  society  as  any  other  man. 

Pleading  the  Rights  of  Creditors  and  Obscure  Martyrs. 

Furthermore,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  compile  a most  convinc- 
ing volume  on  the  ministerial  bosses’  and  blacklisters’  relation  to 
their  own  congregations,  while  they  claim  that  it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  recommend  me  to  a place,  on  such  empty  excuse  that  I seem  to 
have  troubles  wherever  I have  been.  It  would  be  easy  to  prove 
that  such  statements  are  merely  voicing  the  envy,  etc.,  occasioned  by 
my  comparatively  larger  success,  attendance  at  services,  etc.,  making 
them  afraid  that  I would  eclipse  them  if  they  would  grant  me  the 
same  moral  and  financial  support,  the  same  chances  and  opportunities 
they  have,  for  instance,  by  preaching  in  some  center  of  a large  Swed- 
ish population,  where,  on  account  of  tradition,  customs,  etc.,  these 


102 


bosses  are  harvesting  a large  revenue,  in  spite  of  their  unpopularity 
among  the  general  people ; which  unpopularity,  when  reaching  a cer- 
tain limit,  compels  them  “to  pray  God  for  another  call”  to  some 
other  large  center,  which  call  is  soon  forthcoming,  as  the  bosses  or 
blacklisted  occupying  such  places  are  often  too  glad  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  exchange  and  to  keep  matters  rotating. 

It  would  not  be  hard  to  understand  that  if  such  things  be  permit- 
ted to  go  on  uninterruptedly,  there  soon  would  be  only  one  species  of 
natural  disposition  fit  for  the  ministry,  i.  e.,  “the  foxy  species;”  an 
expression  taken  right  from  the  people  and  which  also  renders  an 
inkling  of  why  my  milkman  recently  told  me  that  he  never  doubted 
that  I am  in  the  right.  I have  told  this  honest  farmer  that  in  June 
I will  no  doubt  be  able  to  bring  this  contest  to  a culmination  point, 
and  that  I will  soon  be  at  liberty  to  defray  all  my  daily  expenses, 
but  that  it  would  not  be  fair,  neither  to  him  nor  the  other  creditors, 
to  not  keep  on  and  finish  up  with  a complete  final  appeal,  in  behalf  of 
the  creditors  from  previous  years.  In  this,  he  fully  agreed  with  me, 
and  expressed  his  preference  in  furnishing  my  home  with  milk  on 
credit  so  as  to  assist  and  relieve  me  as  much  as  possible  in  my  Her- 
culean labors  to  keep  things  going,  while  I have  to  serve  as  my  own 
“lawyer,”  and  friend  of  “the  martyrs  at  the  stake,”  i.  e., 

For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance, 

For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance. 

Though  my  creditors  know  that  he  who  was  able  at  first  to  violate 
right  has  commonly  the  power  to  violate  it  again,  and  to  resist  with 
effect  the  claims  of  the  injured  party,  still  they  are  unable  to  under- 
stand how  a whole  body  of  teachers  in  morals  and  religion  can  get 
away  from  the  fact  that,  for  instance  in  1906,  when  the  bosses  de- 
prived me  of  all  allowance  from  the  Conference  treasury,  though  to 
unbiased  minds  my  record  in  Concord  was  excellent,  Rev.  Peterson 
of  Proctor,  Vt.,  at  hearing  of  such  decision,  is  reported  to  have  ex- 
claimed, ‘ ‘ What  a shameful  act ! ’ ’ — he  having  been  absent  when  such 
decision  was  pushed  through  at  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  Conference, 
this  same  pastor  having  also,  as  my  successor  in  New  Sweden,  Me., 
1902,  testified  that  I had  done  a good  work  also  at  that  place. 

It  is  also  hard  to  understand  how  a whole  body  of  ministers  are 
able  to  evade  such  facts  related  in  my  circular,  “A  Battle  for  Life,” 
that,  not  only  with  reference  to  my  two  first  years  as  ordained  minister, 
when  in  1902  I left  my  charge  at  Antrim,  Pa.,  the  president  of  the 
New  York  Conference,  Nelsenius,  awarded  me  a most  laudatory  let- 
ter of  commendation  to  the  Minnesota  Conference;  but  when  in  1S99 


103 


I returned  to  the  former  Conference,  I was  accompanied  by  the  fol- 
lowing tribute : 

Vasa,  Minn.,  September  29,  1899. 

To  the  Hon.  President  of  the  New  York  Conference,  Rev.  L.  P.  Ahlquist , 
Portland,  Conn.: 

Grace  and  Peace! 

Pastor  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren,  who  during  the  past  years  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  pastorate  Walnut  Grove,  Lime  Lake,  Bethania,  Lund  and  Herlunda, 
and  now  on  the  strength  of  a call  from  the  Swed.  Ev.  Luth.  congregation 
at  Newport,  R.  I.,  moves  to  the  New  York  Conference,  is  awarded  the 
testimony,  that  he  has  been  trustworthy  in  his  dealings,  faithful  in  his 
calling,  and  untiring  in  his  labors  on  the  extensive  field  which  has  been 
entrusted  to  him,  wherefore  he  comes  most  highly  recommended. 

Respectfully, 

J.  Fremling, 

The  President  of  the  Minnesota  Conference. 


1 i Honey  for  the  Bitterest  Cup.  ’ ’ 

My  creditors  know  full  well  that  notwithstanding  the  slurs  that  are 
thrown  at  me  for  supposed  non-support  of  my  family,  it  can  be 
evinced  that  up  to  this  very  moment  I have  worked  harder  than  the 
majority  of  men,  but  that,  though  in  love  for  humanity  years  ago  I 
sacrificed  a most  lucrative  calling  and  began  serving  mankind  in  a 
work,  concerning  which  the  grand  old  man  Gladstone  asserts  that  his 
only  hope  for  the  wTorld  is  bringing  the  human  mind  in  contact 
with  divine  revelation,  nevertheless,  through  the  envy  and  malice  of 
‘ ‘teachers  in  morals  and  religion,”  I am  cleaned  out  worse  than  if  a 
fire  or  earthquake  had  been  experienced,  my  case  being  as  different 
as  chalk  from  cheese,  when  compared  to  what  was  recently  related  in 
the  papers  concerning  a fire  at  Hoffman,  Minn.,  that  one  of  our  Au- 
gustana.  pastors,  Rev.  Vallquist,  lost  two  pianos,  two  organs,  $240  in 
cash,  a library  worth  $3,000. 

The  thing  that  has  somewhat  troubled  my  mind,  however,  is  that, 
though  we  live  in  a land  of  plenty,  people  are  so  shy  of  a man  with 
a grievance,  unless  it  results  from  an  earthquake  or  fire,  that  cruel 
blacklisted  are  boasting  that  my  case  is  hopeless,  the  Synod’s  official 
organ  being  bolted  to  my  expostulations,  while  the  anathemas  of  the 
oppressors  have  free  access  to  its  “ sacred”  columns.  But  then,  the 
presence  of  my  creditors  and  the  groans  from  the  many  victims  on 
this  old  historic  Jericho  road  makes  me  stick  to  the  truth : 


104 


Then  take  this  honey  for  the  bitterest  cup; 

There  is  no  failure,  save  in  giving  up. 

No  real  fall,  so  long  as  one  still  tries, 

For  seeming  set-backs  make  the  strong  man  wise, 

There’s  no  defeat  in  truth  save  from  within; 

Unless  you’re  beaten  there,  you’re  bound  to  win. 

Yes,  I am  bound  to  win,  not  only  in  behalf  of  my  creditors,  but  also 
in  behalf  of  many  a bleeding  victim  on  the  Jericho  road.  Though, 
of  course,  the  credit  for  it  be  denied  me,  still  there  are  unmistakable 
signs  as  to  that  my  labors,  both  through  articles  in  the  press  and,  later 
on,  through  private  circulars,  are  bearing  fruit.  Nay,  I should  not 
wonder  if,  by  this  time,  Fogelstrom’s  condition  is  improved,  and 
that  changes  are  made  in  the  leadership  of  Conferences,  etc.  Yea, 
strong  articles  are  now  visible  to  promote  order  in  the  existing  chaos. 
Especially  one  of  the  articles  just  out  in  our  denominational  press 
causes  me  great  rejoicing.  It  reads  as  follows: 

The  well-liked  brother,  Rev.  F.  E.  Sard,  of  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  is  to  move 
from  this,  the  S.  E.  Dakota  District.  We  are  dissatisfied  and  grieved  over 
it,  as  Pastor  Sard  is  so  well  needed  in  our  district.  We  all  have  found 
him  to  be  a true  and  upright  friend  and  brother,  and  a zealous,  faithful 
and  persistent  worker,  who  has  done  a good  work,  and  this  in  spite  of  lots 
of  enmity,  as  it  seems,  mostly  on  account  of  some  existing  misunderstand- 
ing, but,  deplorably  also  perhaps  not  so  little,  owing  to  spite  and  malice. 
It  is,  however,  rejoicing  that  Rev.  Sard  has  declared  himself  willing  to 
leave  the  vengeance  to  Him  that  judgeth  righteously,  as,  when  it  matters 
personal  interests,  it  certainly  is  better  to  suffer  silently.  But  we  ask, 
filled  with  grief  and  concern:  How  long  are  we  to  find  men  willing  to 
go  out  as  laborers  in  the  harvest,  when,  through  the  malice  or  ignorance 
of  enemies,  such  laborers  are  again  and  again  placed  in  an  exceedingly  dis- 
advantageous position?  Is  it  advisable  to  permit  such  to  exist  untram- 
meled?  The  writer  asks,  because  several  times  he  has  seen  the  damaging 
results  from  such  things.  At  any  rate,  we  speak  highly  of  the  faithful 
work  performed  by  our  esteemed  Pastor  Sard.  Our  sincere  wish  is  that 
God’s  blessings  may  follow  him  in  the  charge  to  which  he  is  now  moving. 

Thank  you,  Brother  Bring,  for  this  article.  That  sounds  different 
to  the  panegyric  printed  in  our  denominational  paper  some  years  ago, 
when  Rev.  J.  Franzen,  a former  Sioux  Falls  pastor,  had  died,  the 
panegyric  reading,  “that  he  moved  so  often  because  he  had  such  a 
fidgety  mind,  ” when  in  fact,  in  one  of  the  places  he  served,  we  know 
that  he  had  to  ride  in  a buggy  about  2,000  miles  a year,  while  he 
suffered  excruciating  pains  on  account  of  an  ailment,  rendering  such 
traveling  almost  impossible.  And  as,  while  in  Sioux  Falls,  he  had  to 
travel  quite  extensively  even  there,  it  would  be  proper  to  conclude 
to  the  real  reasons  for  his  removal  from  South  Dakota  also. 


105 


Mrs.  Frances  Willard’s  Assertion. 

As  to  the  statement  that  Rev.  Sard  has  declared  himself  willing  to 
leave  “the  vengeance  to  God,”  I do  not  believe  that  neither  he  nor 
any  other  rightminded  bleeding  victim  on  the  Jericho  road  has  any 
feelings  of  vengeance  in  the  sense  this  word  is  generally  used.  Nay, 
rather  let  us  pray  and  labor  that  God  may  speed  the  day  when  pa- 
triotic citizens  will  see  the  urgent  need  of  a sober-mindedness  producing 
literary  tribunal,  so  that,  through  such  an  independent  press,  the 
workers,  the  helpers,  be  granted  the  protection  of  society  to  keep  the 
coarse-grained  and  ill-natured  under  the  surveillance  of  the  printing 
press,  so  that,  when  God’s  spirit  forsakes  them,  their  evil  inclinations 
be  cowed  by  the  argus-eyes  of  the  public.  As  the  success  of  mankind 
depends  upon  knowledge,  freedom  and  goodness,  the  value  of  such 
protection  to  the  helpers  cannot  be  overestimated. 

If,  for  instance,  the  coarse-grained,  the  blacklisters,  of  the  Au- 
gustana  Synod,  had  known  that  a man  already  privately,  as  Jesus, 
condemned  “to  death”  as  a criminal  should  assume  command  of  the 
printing  press,  to  call  the  place  which  they  had  arranged  and  man- 
aged a “den  of  robbers,”  they  would  not  have  dared  to  go  so  far  as 
they  actually  have.  Therefore,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  other 
means  to  cow  the  brute  in  man  than  the  scare  for  the  printers’  ink, 
as  a whip  of  Christ. 

For  my  own  part,  while  in  behalf  of  my  creditors  and  of  the 
stripped  sufferers  on  the  Jericho  road,  my  labors  are  not  in  vain,  I 
know  that  this  book  “will  do  me  personally  no  good,”  especially  as 
I have  before  me  the  fact  that  the  cleansing  of  the  temple  by  Jesus 
did  not  “do  him  personally  any  good,”  his  enemies  only  becoming 
more  confirmed  in  their  determination  to  get  rid  of  a man  whom  they 
both  hated  and  feared. 

Still,  I cannot  get  away  from  the  influence  and  truth  of  the  asser- 
tion made  by  one  of  America’s  noblest  women,  Mrs.  Frances  Willard: 

The  sooner  we  learn  that  this  is  true  (that  men  are  brethren,  whether 
they  will  or  not),  the  sooner  we  clasp  hands  in  concerted  purpose  and  en- 
deavor to  enact  brotherhood  on  earth,  the  more  shall  we  be  made  in  the 
image  of  man,  rather  than  to  show  forth  the  lineaments  of  serpents  and 
of  beasts;  for  the  hiss  of  the  serpent  and  the  teeth  of  the  hyena  are  not 
more  savage,  relentless  and  cruel  than  those  laws  and  customs  by  which 
the  greater  number  are  steadily  ground  under  the  heel  of  the  lesser,  and 
a human  being  becomes  the  cheapest  thing  on  earth,  the  least  desired,  and 
the  worst  cared  for. 


106 


The  Samaritan. 

As  to  this  work  of  clasping  hands  in  concerted  efforts  to  enact 
brotherhood  on  earth,  I proffer  up  thanks  to  God  for  the  cheer  ex- 
tended from  Concord  friends  of  different  churches  and  organizations, 
who,  especially  two  years  ago,  manifested  a great  activity  to  ‘‘tem- 
porarily’’ assist,  in  compliance  with  the  admonition  in  Leviticus 
19:34: 

The  stranger  that  sojourneth  with  you  shall  be-  unto  you  as  the  home- 
born  among  you,  and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself. 

And  as  to  the  saloon  or  brewery,  the  good  Samaritan  mentioned  pre- 
viously, when  expressing  my  sincere  gratitude  to  them,  I beg  leave 
to  use  the  following  words  from  “The  Prince  of  Peace”: 

Finally  came  a Samaritan.  You  and  I know  how  they  looked  upon  the 
Jews,  and  how  the  Jews  regarded  them.  Nevertheless,  this  Samaritan 
felt  his  heart  go  out  in  pity  for  the  stranger  and  did  for  him  everything 
possible,  binding  up  his  wounds,  lifting  him  to  his  own  animal  to  ride, 
while  he  himself  walked  beside  him  to  a hotel.  Nor  did  his  kindness 
stop  there.  When  obliged  to  leave  the  stranger  he  put  him  in  the  care  of 
the  host,  paid  his  bill  in  advance,  and  begged  that  he  might  receive  all 
attention,  promising  to  pay  whatever  it  cost. 

“Which,”  said  Jesus  to  the  questioner,  “was  neighbor  to  that  man?” 
Of  course  you  know  how  he  was  answered.  And  the  final  reply  of  Jesus 
is  one  worthy  of  thought,  not  only  by  the  man  to  whom  it  was  spoken, 
but  by  all  who  would  be  learners  of  Jesus.  “Go  and  do  likewise!” 

I suppose  it  was  really  very  hard  for  the  Jewish  doctor  of  the  law  to  admit 
that  a Samaritan,  whom  he  despised,  was,  in  the  sense  which  the  law 
meant,  his  neighbor,  and  as  such  was  to  be  treated  as  well  as  he  would 
treat  himself  under  like  circumstances.  Do  you  notice  that  he  did  not 
use  the  hated  word  “Samaritan”  in  answering  Jesus?  “He  that  showed 
mercy  on  him”  is  the  somewhat  awkward  way  in  which  he  manages  to 

avoid  the  word,  while  admitting  the  fact. 

% 

As  every  man  is  so  created  as  instinctively  to  commit  to  the  com- 
munity of  his  fellowmen  the  protection  of  his  rights  and  the  redress 
of  his  wrongs ; and  his  fellowmen,  on  the  other  hand,  instinctively  as- 
sume this  authority,  nay,  feel  guilty  if  they  do  not  exert  it;  and  as 
yielding  to  injustice  forms  a precedent  for  wrong  which  may  work 
the  most  extensive  mischief  to  those  who  shall  come  after  us,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  I consider  every  citizen  under  moral  obligation  to  con- 
tribute his  proportion  even  to  these  my  efforts  to  render  certain  of 
our  fellow-citizens  wiser  and  better.  These  truths  are  not  only  stated 
in  the  ethics  of  the  president  of  Brown  University,  but  written  in 
our  conscience  as  human  beings.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  by  as- 
sisting me  in  this,  Doctor  Wayland’s  assertion  will  be  fulfilled: 


107 


That  from  every  such  successful  effort  in  rendering  assistance,  every  citizen 
receives  material  benefit,  both  in  person  and  estate;  and  that  one,  therefore, 
ought  to  be  willing  to  assist  others  in  doing  that  from  which  he  himself  derives 
important  advantage. 

Furthermore,  as  to  my  conduct,  this  president  also  rightly  claims 
that  yielding  to  injustice  forms  a precedent  for  wrong,  which  may 
work  the  most  extensive  mischief  to  those  who  shall  come  after  us. 
It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  passive  obedience  cannot  be  the  rule  of 
civil  conduct. 

In  this  book,  ‘‘Moral  Science,”  we  also  read: 

The  citizen  is  under  obligation  as  a constituent  member  of  society. 
Hence  he  is  bound: 

1.  To  use  all  necessary  exertion  to  secure  to  every  individual,  from  the 
highest  and  most  powerful  to  the  lowest  and  most  defenseless,  the  full 
benefit  of  perfect  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights. 

2.  To  use  all  necessary  exertion  to  procure  for  every  individual  just 
and  adequate  redress  for  wrong. 

He  who  stands  by  and  sees  a mob  tear  down  a house  is  a partaker  of 
the  guilt.  And  if  society  knowingly  neglects  to  protect  the  individual 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights,  every  member  of  that  society  is  in  equity 

bound,  in  his  proportion,  to  make  good  that  loss.  Every  man  has  been 

created  a constituent  member  of  society,  every  man  has  a right  to  it;  and 
as  long  as  he  violates  no  rights  he  is  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  the 
social  state.  He  may  be  a foreigner,  alone  and  friendless,  yet  society 
covers  all  his  rights  as  a man  under  the  shield  of  her  protection.  . . 
Man  is  in  need  of  this  protection  all  his  life.  This  protection  which 
others  afford  him  he  is  under  obligations  to  unite  in  affording  others. 

This  relation  of  the  individual  to  society  is  the  foundation  of  some 

of  the  most  interesting  affections  in  our  nature.  As  society  is  thus  the 

source  of  innumerable  blessings,  we  look  up  to  it  with  gratitude,  venera- 
tion and  love.  It  is  to  us  a sort  of  parent,  to  whom  we  owe  a vast  debt 
of  filial  obedience.  Thus  is  formed  the  affection  of  patriotism,  or  love 
of  country,  one  of  the  most  ennobling  virtues  that  can  adorn  our  charac- 
ter. It  is  thus  that  we  joyfully  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  even  life  it- 
self, for  our  native  land;  and  the  sentiment  has  for  twenty  centuries 
thrilled  the  hearts  of  thousands,  dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori. 
This  particular  form  of  love  of  society  gives  us  victory  over  the  love  of 
self,  and  raises  us  to  the  dignity  not  only  of  intelligent,  but  of  social 
and  moral  beings. 


Leviathan,  Job  40  and  41. 

In  this  connection,  we  may  also  finally  remind  you  of  the  intro- 
duction of  my  large  circular,  ‘‘A  Battle  for  Life,”  October  31,  1906, 
which  introduction  wras  called  “The  Intimations  of  Providence,”  and 
reads  as  follows : 


108 


Ascension  Day,  1902,  while  on  my  journey  from.  New  Sweden,  Me.,  to 
Concord,  N.  H.,  Mrs.  Holmgren,  ever  like  Joseph,  “the  dreamer,”  endowed 
with,  a most  acute  faculty  of  discernment  as  to  the  influences  from  on 
high,  dreamt  that  as  from  the  city-side  she  opened  the  door  to  the  wait- 
ing-room of  the  railroad  station  at  Concord  (where  she  never  had  been 
before)  she  saw  the  king  of  all  the  beasts,  a stony-hearted  crocodile, 
the  Leviathan  of  Job  41,  with  his  jaws  wide  open. 

“Oh,  dear,  look,  papa!  He’ll  swallow  us!”  she  exclaims,  while  embracing 
her  children.  From  behind,  and  with  an  assuring  “No  danger!”  I grabbed 
the  beast  by  one  of  its  jaws,  while  Mrs.  Holmgren  cries:  “Take  care! 
He  bites  you!”  (Who  can  open  the  doors  of  his  face?  Round  about  his 
teeth  is  terror.  Job  40:  14.)  But  with  a firm  hold  on  the  wtlitr.  with  ^g- 
■numeraMe  toQ-feh-^li^teftiwg,  and  with  a strong  jerk,  I rent  his  jaws  asunder. 
At  the  crashing  sound,  and  with  folded  hands,  Mrs.  Holmgren  exclaims,  with 
uplifted  eyes,  “Thanks,  good  God  !” 

In  Isaiah  27,  which  chapter  treats  of  the  enemies  of  the  church,  is 
prophesied  that  “Leviathan,  the  swift  serpent,  and  Leviathan,  the  crooked 
serpent,  and  the  dragon  in  the  sea  shall  be  punished  and  slain.”  Thus, 
though  I smiled  at  first  at  my  wife’s  dream,  I nevertheless  began  to  think 
that  perchance  here  in  Concord  the  enemies  of  the  church  will  get  a neck 
within  reach,  so  that  the  swift  as  well  as  the  crooked  followers  of  the 
dragon  may  really  be  expedited. 

Equally  as  wondrous  were  the  ways  of  providence,  that  I was  to  hold 
my  entrance  in  the  Concord  parish  on  the  6th  Sunday  after  Easter,  when 
from  the  altar  I had  to  first  read  St.  John  16:23-33: 

“They  shall  put  you  out  of  the  synagogues;  yea,  the  hour  cometh  that 
whosoever  killeth  you  shall  think  that  he  offereth  service  unto  God.” 

This  text  alluded  to  what  I just  had  experienced  at  New  Sweden,  Me. 
Next  in  order,  the  church-book  required  me  to  preach  on  St.  Luke  12 : 
4-12,  auguring  the  future  in  store,  as,  following  close  upon  the  admoni- 
tion to  beware  of  the  leaven  of  Pharisees,  in  this  text  Christ  admonishes: 

“Be  not  afraid  of  them  which  kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have  no 
more  that  they  can  do,”  and  in  the  last  verse: 

“When  they  bring  you  before  the  synagogue,  and  the  rulers  and  the  au- 
thorities, be  not  anxious  how  or  what  ye  shall  say,  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
shall  teach  you  in  that  very  hour  what  ye  ought  to  say.”  Christ  evidently 
in  these  words  referring  to  the  circumstance  that  his  disciples,  as  consci- 
entious and  benevolent  beings,  would  be  best  served  by  a searching,  judi- 
cious inquiry. 

With  Leviathan  in  the  waiting-room  of  the  railroad  station,  and  with 
the  prescribed  texts  for  my  inaugural  sermon,  the  premonitions  of  provi- 
dence were  intelligible  enough  as  to  the  future  in  store  here  in  Concord, 
where,  succeeding  the  period  of  the  multitude’s  flower-strewing  at  my 
feet,  their  attention  should  be  drawn  to  my  exposed  and  harborless  con- 
dition to  the  merely  for  a short  while  transquilized  passions,  which,  after 
the  first  days  of  exultation,  and  under  the  clamors  or  incentives  of  earthly 
interests,  vain  glory  and  avarice,  would  again  become  agitated  and  ablaze. 

So  many  heads,  so  many  minds,  may  of  course  for  a while  become  con- 
cordant under  the  discretion  of  the  most  predominant,  yet,  in  the  pitch  and 


109 


toss  and  lottery  of  life,  other  interests  will  soon  run  riot  and  burst  into 
flames,  and  (Job  40:  14,  20),  “Round  about  the  teeth  of  Leviathan  terror 
begins  to  be  visible,  and  out  of  his  nostrils  a smoke  goeth,  as  of  a 
seething  pot.” 

For  years  having  given  up  my  life-blood,  and  being  made  to  despair 
under  the  blacklisters  ’ captious  fault-finding,  which  also  brought  the 
Saviour  on  the  Cross;  and  as  to  the  threats  made  against  my  life,  I 
know  that  when  right  is  to  prevail  and  win,  which  it  always  will  in 
the  long  run,  it  is  met  by  the  powers  of  oppression  and  tyranny ; and 
that  without  sacrifices  and  sufferings  the  true  brotherhood  of  man, 
and  even  his  rights  to  work  for  his  living,  cannot  be  established. 

To  make  the  coarse-grained  natures  shudder  at  their  hardness  of 
heart  it  seems  to  be  necessary  that  they  should  exceed  the  limit  of 
common  decency,  or,  to  use  the  expression  of  the,  on  that  account  much 
criticised  Rev.  Forslund,  who  said,  while  laboring  in  the  New  York 
Conference,  that  certain  pastors  “ ought  to  learn  in  hell  the  care  of 
souls.  ’ ’ 

At  any  rate,  what  sane  man  would  not  rather  be  a sheep  torn  by 
the  wolf  than  the  wolf  tearing  it?  Abel,  the  lamb,  in  his  death  throes, 
is  happier  than  Cain,  the  wolf,  in  his  hellish  blood-sucking.  And, 
siding  with  Rev.  Fogelstrom,  it  is  better  to  be  wronged  than  to  commit 
the  wrong ; or,  as  the  Bible  puts  it : 

For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord : whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the 
Lord ; whether  we  live  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the  Lord’s. 

At  the  recent  Methodist  Episcopal  Conference  here  in  Concord,  it 
was  emphasized  the  simple  justice  of  making  provision  for  those 
clergymen  who  are  no  longer  fitted  for  active  pastoral  service.  The 
man  who  has  retired  because  of  age  has  his  annuity,  but  the  younger 
man,  who  has  not  reached  the  age  of  retirement,  should  be  given  some 
protection  in  case  misfortune  befalls  him.  This  aid  should  not  take 
the  form  of  charity,  said  the  speaker,  Dr.  J.  B.  Hingeley.  Rather 
it  should  be  regarded  as  no  more  than  payment  for  service. 

He  illustrated  this  point  by  the  case  of  three  young  men,  graduat- 
ing from  college  at  the  same  time,  equal  in  ability  and  equipment. 
One,  noting  the  rich  rewards  of  success  in  mercantile  pursuits,  makes 
choice  of  a business  career.  The  second,  attracted  by  the  evidences 
of  success  in  professional  walks  of  life,  decides  to  prepare  himself 
for  one  of  the  professions.  The  third,  just  as  ambitious  as  his  fel- 
lows, feels  himself  called  upon  to  embark  in  the  ministry  and  becomes 
a clergyman. 


110 


If  that  young  man  chooses  to  ally  himself  with  the  Methodist  Church,  it 
is  only  just  to  give  him  some  assurance  of  a comfortable  old  age.  The  bislfop 
tells  him  in  the  beginning  that  the  church  has  little  to  offer,  but  that  it  will 
provide  him  with  comfortable  living  as  long  as  he  lives.  The  church  makes 
that  promise  to  the  young  man  as  a small  measure  of  return  for  the  undoubted 
sacrifice  he  has  made.  That  promise  must  be  kept.  Its  redemption  is  no 
more  than  honor  requires. 

As  the  standard  of  ethics  with  the  blacklisted  of  the  Augustana 
Synod  does  not  come  up  to  that  of  these  Methodists,  and  as  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Synod  does  not  reflect  the  majority  of  the  people, 
under  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal ; and  thus,  its  gov- 
ernment being  not  of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people; 
and  as  therefore  there  is  no  guarantee  afforded  me  that  the  tricks  of 
our  church  politicians  and  ring-leaders  will  not  prevail,  as  it  seemed  to 
have,  even  in  the  case  of  Fogelstrom,  this  Sanhedrim  of  officials,  etc., 
being  looked  upon  as  a Holy  of  Holies,  while  a martyr,  a witch,  re- 
mains a witch,  and,  as  in  former  centuries,  the  majority  has  to  go 
hungry  and  barefoot  that  one  king  or  prince  might  be  arrayed  in 
splendor — for  such  and  similar  reasons,  not  to  mention  that  I run 
the  risk  of  being  shut  up  in  some  asylum,  I consider  it  safest  not  to 
attend  the  Conference,  but,  as  a mother  lovingly  provides  for  her 
children,  though  she  may  be  on  tomorrow  to  leave  them  forever,  in 
behalf  of  my  creditors,  the  destitute  on  the  Jericho  road,  of  mankind 
present  and  to  come,  by  the  aid  of  tfie  printing  press  I will  continue 
to  appeal  to  the  heart  of  each  and  every  pastor  of  the  Synod. 

Believing  with  Horace  Greeley  that  all  true  greatness  is  ripened  and 
tempered  and  proved  in  lifelong  struggle  against  vicious  beliefs,  tra- 
ditions, practices,  institutions,  and  that  not  to  have  been  a reformer 
is  not  to  have  truly  lived,  I patiently  resign  to  the  decision  of  the 
whole  body  of  ministers  and  not  to  a meeting  of  a conference,  etc., 
where  the  puppet  popes  of  an  advisory  board  seem  to  have  absolute 
sway,  etc. 

And  while  the  blacklisted  and  their  tools  forget  that  God  hates 
inhumanity,  and  that  God’s  heart  repents  Him  for  those  who  seem  to 
be  utterly  trampled  under  the  foot  and  denied  the  right  to  live,  I am 
personally  always  willing  to  be  little,  and,  being  honored  with  the  title 
“T.  F.,”  I cannot  but  close  this  volume  with  a verse  from  “The  Fool’s 
Prayer”: 


Earth  bears  no  balsam  for  mistakes; 

Men  crown  the  knave,  and  scourge  the  tool 
That  did  his  will;  but  Thou,  O Lord, 

Be  merciful  to  me,  a fool! 


SUPPLEMENT 


TO 

THE  ROAD  TO  JERICHO. 


Oratory  may  sway  multitudes  and 
kings  may  rule — but  all  these  are 
trifling  and  pitifully  small  beside 
the  province  of  the  open  page. 

Barlow. 

Without  the  means  to  attend  the  Synod,  convening  at  Red  Wing, 
Minn.,  June  10,  nothing  else  remains  but  abiding  with  the  printed  page, 
for  which  purpose  I am  supplied  with  funds. 

If  such  my  printed  appeals  does  not  suffice  against  the  power  of  the 
blacklisters,  nothing  else  would  avail,  as  hereby  everything  can  be  impar- 
tially considered,  free  from  the  influence  of  applause  or  condemnation  of 
an  excited  audience  swayed  by  preconceived  personal  conviction. 

As  every  pastor  is  thus  furnished  with  a powerful  impetus  to  bear  upon 
the  representatives  convening  at  Red  Wing,  I shall  understand  that  if  the 
award  and  redress,  I am  entitled  to,  be  denied  me,  it  must  be  the  unani- 
mous wish  of  the  ministry  as  a whole  to  see  me  in  bankruptcy  and  refused 
a human  and  Christian  treatment. 

For  the  cause  of  Christ  and  in  behalf  of  my  creditors,  I trust  that  the 
brethren  are  however  taking  to  heart  the  words  of  Christ,  “ Blessed  are 
the  peacemakers ; for  they  shall  be  called  the  sons  of  God.” 


Compassed  About  with  a Cloud  of  Spectators. 

In  Augustana , the  official  organ  of  the  Synod,  Rev.  J.  Torell,  of  Swede- 
burg,  Neb.,  once  related  : 

In  my  native  home  it  was  reported  that  one  night  two  farmers  killed  a poor 
tenant 's  wife  and  gave  her  blood  to  one  of  their  wives  as  a remedy  and  health 
restorative. 

In  the  dark  of  the  night  they  hunted  up  the  innocent  victim  of  their  follies 
while  she,  unaware  of  any  evil,  reposed  in  bed  with  her  husband  and  suckling. 

They  wrenched  the  child  from  her  breast  and  coaxed  and  impelled  the  tenant 
to  hold  the  light  while  they  were  cutting  up  and  killing  his  wife,  and  secured 
her  heart  blood  to  constitute  a drink  for  her  former  mistress. 

Every  week,  as  a small  boy,  I often  walked  by  this  shanty,  and  at  every  time 
I passed  I was  incensed  against  these  murderers  and  this  husband,  who  could  be 
coaxed  and  frightened  so  as  to  hold  the  light,  while  the  murderers  performed 
their  atrocious  deed. 

A few  years  later  I became  a private  tutor  in  the  family  of  that  same  farmer, 
and  I then  learned  that  his  wife  had  not  derived  any  benefit  from  having  drunk 
her  murdered  ex-servant's  heart  blood. 

Do  not  these  extracts  from  that  Augustana  article  verify  the  truth,  that 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  never  made  fat  their  slayers;  and  also  that 
though  it  has  been  a common  occurrence  both  in  Sweden  and  other 


2 


countries,  that  when  a defenceless  person  is  punched  upon  and  abused? 
a ring  of  onlookers  is  formed,  of  whom  even  some  are  shouting  : “ Give 
it  to  him  ! ” — still,  such,  either  silent  or  boisterous,  looking  on,  is  unworthy 
of  teachers  in  morals  and  religion  ? 

This  latter  is  here  referred  to  as  to  many  it  would  appear  as  if  a ring 
had  been  formed  around  me  and  my  blacklisted— a ring  of  both  silent 
and  boisterous  spectators. 

So,  for  instance,  not  only  in  Augustana  of  May  20,  Rev.  C.  W.  Andeer, 
who  some  years  ago  told  me  to  go  to  work  in  some  mill,  states  that  cer- 
tain officials  of  the  New  York  Conference  are  splendid  fellow  brethren; 
but  following  upon  the  issue  of  my  book,  “ The  Road  to  Jericho,”  and  its 
statements  as  to  the  cause  of  my  debts,  etc.,  the  chief  editor  of  Augustana , 
Dr.  L.  G.  Abrahamson,  calls  the  public’s  attention  to  the  circumstance  that 
Rev.  C.  J.  Scheleen,  of  Manhattan,  Kan.,  has  a salary  of  only  $400  a year, 
but  no  parsonage ; nevertheless,  in  the  past,  he  has  adopted  twTo  children, 
besides  caring  for  and  bringing  up  eleven  other  destitute  children,  etc. 

But  would  it  not  been  proper  if  Doctor  Abrahamson  also  had  referred 
to  the  fact  that  this  pastor,  who  now  is  68  years  old,  lives  where  it  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  get  along,  besides  enjoying  the  moral  support  of  the 
ministry?  Furthermore,  there  are  quite  a few  of  our  pastors  who  have 
adopted  orphan  girls,  thereby  saving  them  the  expenses  of  a hired  girl, 
nurse,  etc.  More  than  that,  many  pastors  are  married  to  daughters  of 
wealthy  farmers,  etc.,  not  to  mention  numerous  other  items,  rendering  it 
possible  and  easy  for  them  to  get  along  even  without  any  salary  what- 
ever. 

As  for  many  years,  Doctor  Abrahamson’s  income  must  have  averaged, 
I should  judge,  $3,000  a year,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  a man 
endowed  with  such  large  benevolence  as  he  certainly  is,  even  if  his  con- 
scientiousness were  not  equally  as  large,  when  it  matters  natural  endow- 
ments, could  remain  passive  at  seeing  a brother  laboring  on  such  small 
salary,  if  he  did  not  know  there  were  certain  circumstances  that  ren- 
dered it  unnecessary  for  him  to  assist.  I know  how  I myself  and  other 
brethren  would  feel  under  similar  circumstances. 

So,  for  instance,  in  1902,  soon  after  my  arrival  at  Concord,  Rev.  J.  W. 
Eckman,  then  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  visited  my  home  and  stated : 

Brother  Holmgren,  you  have  too  large  a family  to  support  on  such  a small 
place  as  Concord.  As  I am  going  to  leave  Lowell  I will  assist  you  to  become 
acting  pastor  during  the  vacancy,  thus  affording  you  a splendid  opportunity  to 
become  permanent  pastor  of  that  parish. 

Rev.  Eckman  did  not  know  at  that  time  that  Doctor  Beck  had  prom- 
ised this  parish  to  Rev.  Aslev ; and  thus,  after  the  departure  of  Rev. 
Eckman,  I only  got  the  privilege  of  preaching  at  that  place  the  two 
Doomsday  Sundays  of  the  church  year,  the  last  Sunday  after  Trinitatis  and 


3 


the  second  Sunday  in  Advent,  as  referred  to  in  my  book,  “ The  Road  to 
Jericho.” 

Withal,  I know  how  I would  feel  and  act  if  I were  in  Doctor  Abraham- 
son’s  position,  and  knew  a brother  to  be  in  distress.  So,  for  instance,  in 
1895,  while  I was  pastor  in  Antrim,  Pa.,  and  Rev.  C.  J.  Youngberg  at  the 
sister  parish  in  Arnot,  the  latter  wrote  to  me  that,  owing  to  the  many 
removals,  he  could  not  sustain  himself  in  Arnot  if  he  would  not  get  Antrim 
as  an  annex. 

Though  the  Antrim  congregation  had  just  surprised  me  with  a gift  of 
over  $100,  and  had  offered  me  the  privilege  of  visiting  Sweden  and  Europe 
to  recuperate  from  the  overwork  I had  taken  upon  me,  Rev.  Youngberg’s 
letter  of  distress  decided  the  question,  and,  instead  of  accepting  the  offer 
made  by  the  good  Antrim  people,  in  the  spring  of  1895,  I accepted  the 
call  to  Minnesota  where,  owing  to  the  constant  traveling  after  my  horses, 
I had  a splendid  opportunity  to  recuperate. 

Furthermore,  that  Doctor  Abrahamson’s  statement,  that  Rev.  Scheleen 
is  getting  along  on  merely  $400  a year,  cannot  be  applied  to  the  majority 
of  our  pastors,  is  evident  from,  for  instance,  following  letter  extracts : 

(See  page  23  in  “The  Road  to  Jericho”) 


Brother  Holmgren,  Peace  ! 


Marquette,  Mich.,  February  23,  1904. 


The  Ishpeming  District  has  through  me  asked  the  mission  board  of  the  Illinois 
Conference  to  renew  the  call  for  you  to  Scandia  at  a salary  of  $1,000.  As  I un- 
derstand, the  board  has  offered  you  less  than  $800  ($700),  which  is  very  wrong. 
Here  it  is  not  so  cheap  to  live  as  the  fathers  think.  It  costs  a good  deal  more 
than  in  Illinois  #nd  the  central  states.  I have  had  $800  and  parsonage  here  in 
Marquette,  but  it  is  the  extra  income  or  fees  that  have  made  it  possible  for  me 
to  maintain  and  not  sink  in  debts. 

Fraternally, 


F.  A.  LINDER. 


(Now  President  of  the  Illinois  Conference.) 


Brother  Holmgren,  Concord,  N.  H. 
The  Peace  of  God  ! 


Ashtabula,  O.,  Sept.  14,  1903. 


And  then,  your  salary  ! Oh  ! How  small  it  is;  only  $50  a month  ! What  are 
these  among  so  many  mouths  as  your  family  counts ! There  cannot  but  be  a 
monthly  balance.  We,  too,  have  had  many  hardships.  This  year,  my  wife  has 
been  sick  for  seven  weeks,  (while  mine  was  in  bed  for  eight  months  and  another 
time  nearly  one  year,  etc.,)  but  our  members  of  the  congregation  have  been  so 
kind  to  us  that  they  have  performed  all  the  housework,  nursed  my  wife,  sup- 
plied us  with  food  during  all  this  time.  Nevertheless,  our  salary  is  barely  suffi- 
cient, though  I have  $800  a year,  parsonage  and  a great  deal  of  extra  income  or 
fees  ; and  we,  my  wife  and  I,  think  that  we  live  very  economical.  . . . 

F.  SWENSON. 

The  Interdict  Sanctioned. 

May  8,  1909,  following  letter  was  received  from  the  new  president  of 
the  New  York  Conference: 


4 


Extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence, Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  April  21-27,  1909: 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  committee  on  this  matter,  it  was  carried  that 
the  suspension  of  Rev.  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren  from  the  holy  ministry  is  confirmed 
and  shall  continue  in  force  until  he  has  proven  himself  so  penitent,  and,  besides, 
regained  such  stipulations  than  can  entitle  him  to  come  in  possession  of  it  again. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Naugatuck,  Conn. 

F.  JACOBSON,  E.  A.  ZETTERSTRAND, 

Pres.  Seer. 

First  of  all,  it  is  ominous  enough  that  the  ring-leaders  have  reelected 
the  same  officials  of  the  conference,  with  the  sole  exception  of  the  presi- 
dent, Doctor  Nelsenius,  who,  notwithstanding  his  weakness  in  not  daring 
to  stand  up  for  the  truth,  nevertheless  furnished  me  with  weapons  to  pro- 
tect myself,  for  which  the  God  of  charity  will  give  him  credit,  as  long  as 
it  is  true,  that  love  covereth  a multitude  of  sins.  That  Nelsenius  is  no 
longer  the  president  of  the  Conference  may  thus  be  caused  by  the  fact 
that  he  has  shown  me  certain  tokens  of  sympathy  and  charity. 

That  my  suspension  is  now  openly  confirmed  at  the  Conference  meet- 
ing can  only  dupe  the  uninitiated  public,  as,  when  it  matters  myself  and 
family,  we  know  that,  years  before  the  stake  was  publicly  erected,  I have 
been  deprived  of  the  moral  and  financial  backing  needed  to  fill  my  calling, 
and  that  only  when  in  behalf  of  my  creditors,  etc.,  I was  forced  to  inform 
the  whole  brotherhood  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  let  the  blacklist- 
ing puppet-popes  smother  me  on  the  back-stairs,  my  “suspension  ” was 
finally  made  public,  i.  e.,  at  the  front-door. 

In  the  fall,  1907,  the  president  of  the  Boston  District  of  the  New  York 
Conference  published  the  following  appeal  in  Augustan  a : 

Because  of  long-continued  sickness  in  his  family,  misconceptions  in  his  work, 
and  without  a place  or  charge  for  more  than  one  year,  Rev.  C.  J.  A.  Holmgren 
has  been  placed  in  very  sorely  pressed  circumstances,  the  ministry  of  the 
Augustana  Synod,  at  its  convention  at  New  Britain,  Conn.,  June,  1907,  made 
arrangements  for  a temporary  relief  to  Pastor  Holmgren. 

The  Ministry  passed  a resolution  that  each  pastor  contribute  at  the  rate  of  82 
each  to  succor  the  sorely  afflicted  brother  and  his  family.  Thus,  every  pastor  is 
requested  to  contribute  the  sum  of  82  during  this  synodical  year. 

As  the  cold  season  is  at  hand,  which  means  new  vexations  to  the  poor,  and  as 
Pastor  Holmgren  is  in  need  of  shelter,  food  and  raiment,  we  ask  all  the  brethren 
of  the  Augustana  Synod  to  readily  assist  in  keeping  the  wolf  from  the  family’s 
door.  To  facilitate  the  work,  we  ask  every  district  to  collect  within  their 
respective  boundaries.  The  treasurers  of  each  district  may  thereupon  turn  the 
money  over  to  J.  A.  Bernhard,  328  Ferry  St. , Everett,  Mass. 

Respectfully, 

J.  A.  BERNHARD. 

Thrown  in  the  cave  of  Despair  at  seeing  this  “degrading”  publication, 
I at  once  wrote  to  the  editor  of  Augustana  at  that  time,  Dr.  S.  P.  A. 
Lindahl,  who  in  his  reply  admitted  that  this  was  not  the  right  way  to 
bring  me  the  needed  succor. 

As  it  is  rightly  claimed,  that  the  reputation  which  a man  has  established 


5 


that  he  is  capable  and  desirous  of  doing  well,  is  frequently  of  more  value 
than  money;  and  that  it  may  be  destroyed  by  false  and  malicious  slander, 
and  as  it  becomes  the  community  to  come  to  his  aid,  and  render  such 
award  as  may  establish  him  in  his  true  standing  and  render  it  for  the 
interest  of  the  slanderer  to  leave  the  honor  of  his  neighbor  untarnished, 
there  is  no  wonder  that  at  reading  the  above  article  in  Augustana  my 
wife  wept  bitterly,  comprehending  how  such  public  suppression  of  the 
real  facts  would  debar  me  from  all  chances  of  securing  calls  to  congrega- 
tions and  future  promotion,  people  being  afraid  to  extend  a call  to  a man, 
depicted  as  a poor,  unfortunate  object  of  charity,  pity,  etc. 

In  those  days,  I had  implored  Doctor  Norelius  to  assist  me  to  the 
vacant  chair  of  professorship  in  Christianity  at  our  College  at  Rock  Island, 
111.,  and  Doctor  Nelsenius  had  written  to  me  that  it  would  be  we\\  if  for 
instance  Reverend  Bernhard,  then  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  would  recommend 
me  to  Sheffield  and  Ludlow,  Pa.,  from  which  places  he  had  received  a 
call ; the  pastor  at  Everett  was  however,  commended  to  those  parishes. 
Rev.  John  Johnson  had  told  me  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  brethren  to  get 
me  a call  to  a large  congregation,  where  I can  support  my  family. 

That  there  is  a human  and  Christian  way  in  which  to  bring  me  succor 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that,  in  1901,  the  Providence  district  decided  to 
ask  the  New  York  Conference  to  grant  me  $150  to  cover  part  of  the 
moving  expenses  up  to  that  date.  Evidently,  because  they  were  afraid 
that  slurs  would  be  thrown  at  those  who  had  induced  me  to  go  to  New- 
port, I was  told  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  brethren  it  would  be  unwise  of 
me  to  push  the  matter  before  the  Conference. 

In  my  sincere  love  for  the  brethren,  I did  not  push  it,  at  the  same  time 
believing  the  brethren  to  be  in  possession  of  the  same  loving  heart,  and 
that  they  would  allow  me  to  come  to  a charge  at  least  as  good  as  the  one 
I had  in  Minnesota.  Nay,  there  are  plenty  positions  in  the  Synod,  that 
would  afford  me  a chance  to  even  pay  my  present  debts  without  making 
me  an  object  of  disgracing  charity,  but  as  award  for  faithful  services. 

But  instead  of  thus  establishing  me  in  my  true  standing,  the  black- 
listers  seem  to  be  afraid  that  such  tactics  would  not  only  leave  my 
honor  untarnished,  but  would  give  the  public  a hint  that  it  is  their  cruel- 
ties that  have  caused  the  breakdown  of  my  wife  and  the  distress  and  mis- 
fortunes of  myself  and  family. 

In  my  love  to  my  persecutors,  who  wanted  to  appear  pure  as  lilies,  I 
patiently  resigned  to  their  underhand  schemes,  as  long  as  I saw  that  they 
were  beginning  to  really  look  after  the  interests  of  my  creditors.  These 
artful  dodges,  however,  must  have  aroused  the  suspicion  of  more  than 
half  of  the  ministers,  as  the  money  did  not  flow  in  as  expected,  and  then, 
when  in  the  summer  of  1908,  Reverend  Bernhard  wrote  to  one  of  my 
creditors,  that  as  I had  received  a place  in  Gardner,  no  more  money 


would  be  forthcoming,  then,  when  even  my  creditors’  interests  were 
alarmingly  involved,  there  was  nothing  else  left  for  me  than  to  push  my 
case  before  the  whole  body  of  the  ministers.  And  then  it  was  that  the 
blacklisters  made  their  countrecoup , suspending  me  at  the  front-door. 

Diverting  the  Attention  from  the  Question. 

When  publishing  that  this  unchristian  and  inhuman  “ suspension  ” 
remains  in  force  until  I become  penitent,  etc.,  the  puppet-popes  and  their 
committees  are  employing  the  same  tactics  to  mislead  the  public  as,  for 
instance,  Svea’s  correspondent  made  use  of  when  I had  lovingly  implored 
the  Concord  leaders  to  take  up  the  names  of  the  respective  members  of 
the  Concord  congregation  to  investigate  if  there  had  been  any  just  cause 
for  publicly  branding  me  as  a liar  when  I stated  that,  during  my  ministry, 
the  membership  of  the  parish  had  almost  doubled. 

So,  by  publicly  announcing  that  I must  become  penitent,  the  black- 
listers  have  branded  me  as  a malefactor,  deserving  to  be  unfrocked  and 
deprived  of  my  calling  and  belongings  ; such  procedure  certainly  recalling 
to  our  minds  the  statement  made  by  Lord  Beaconsfield  of  England  : 

The  forensic  habit  of  diverting  attention  from  the  question  to  the  man  who 
propounds  it  seems  now  to  be  a monopoly  of  the  clergy. 

October  22,  1906,  one  of  the  friendly  brethren,  Rev.  John  Johnson, 
wrote  to  me : 

Every  one  says  that  you  are  a good  preacher,  but  that  your  moods  and  tem- 
perament are  below  par.  You  have  a lovely  wife  and  excellent  children.  It 
grieves  me  that  your  condition  is  such  that  you  cannot  care  for  them  better. 

Such  deriding  of  my  character  recalls  to  my  mind  how,  in  Shakespeare’s 
play,  “ King  Lear,”  the  king  of  Britain  is  an  easy  victim  of  his  designing 
daughters,  and  is  influenced  by  them  to  drive  Cordelia,  his  third  daughter, 
from  his  palace.  Cordelia  loves  her  father,  as  I do  my  brethren  and  even 
my  blacklisters,  but  his  mind  is  so  warped  that  he  will  not  believe  it.  W e 
know  how  the  play  continues  throughout  a maze  of  deception  and  strife 
and  war  to  its  bitter  end,  where  Lear,  at  last  realizing  too  late  the  worth 
of  his  disinherited  daughter,  dies  across  her  dead  body. 

By  stating  that  I must  become  penitent,  we  are  here  again  reminded  of 
the  old  pretext  of  the  lamb  and  the  wolf  by  the  brook.  How  could  the 
lamb  disturb  the  water  for  the  wolf  when  the  wolf  stood  higher  up  and 
above  the  lamb? 

Doctor  Williamson,  of  the  Synod’s  College  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  told  me 
that  certain  brethren  or  students  refuse  to  treat  me  as  a brother  merely 
because  of  envy ; and  I may  ask,  how  could  Abel  repent  because  Cain 
envied  him?  The  more  Abel  loved  his  brother  the  more  execrable  he 
appeared  to  Cain.  Nay,  Christ  appeared  so  abominable  to  his  blacklisters 


7 


that  they  even  claimed  he  was  possessed  by  devils.  And  the  more  sym- 
pathy and  love  they  find  me  being  in  possession  of,  the  more  hateful  I 
seem  to  appear  to  the  eyes  of  the  blacklisters. 

As,  therefore,  nothing  else  but  envy  can  be  the  real  leaven  in  all  these 
troubles,  by  publishing  that  I must  become  penitent  the  blacklisters  have 
securedly  bolted  the  front-door  as  they  formerly  did  the  back-door  after 
throwing  me  down  the  back-stairs. 

When,  for  instance,  the  president  of  the  Boston  District  writes  me, 
while  still  on  the  back-stairs,  that  the  reason  why  he  and  the  brethren  are 
unwilling  to  assist  me  to  a good  substantial  parish  is  because  I seem  to 
have  troubles  wherever  I have  been,  and  when  for  such  reasons  in  the 
past  I have  been  deprived  of  the  needed  moral  and  financial  backing, 
how  can  I become  penitent,  as  long  as  no  fair  trial  and  investigation  is 
granted  me? 

When  these  blacklisters  have  deprived  me  of  a brother’s  hand,  and 
stealthily  suspended  me  at  the  back-door  on  the  pretense  that  I am 
demented  or  of  an  unbalanced  mind,  how  can  I become  a penitent,  as 
long  as  they  deny  me  a consistent  medical  examination  a person  suspected 
of  being  insane  is  entitled  to  ? In  short,  one  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  law  and  justice  lies  in  granting  “the  other  party”  a chance  to  be 
heard  before  judgment  is  pronounced,  fair  play  being  a jewel. 

No  Vision  of  Social  Justice. 

More  than  two  years  ago,  the  president  of  the  Synod,  Doctor  Norelius, 
wrote  to  me : 

You  ask,  if  “ the  stronger  ” is  always  in  the  right?  “ The  stronger  ” is  not  in 
the  right  because  of  his  might,  but  solely  because  of  being  in  the  truth. 

Truly,  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  the  poor  are  exalted  if  they  are  in  the 
paths  of  righteousness. 

This  truth  will  also  tell  us,  that  even  if  the  martyrs  were  slain  by  “ the 
stronger,”  the  slain  were  the  real  victors.  And,  to  use  the  statement  in 
the  last  number  of  the  American  Magazine , this  same  truth  will  tell  us : 

When  an  institution  is  young,  it  possesses  abounding  vitality,  it  has  hope  and 
faith.  But  when  an  institution  (as  for  instance  the  Augustana  Synod)  grows 
old  and  fearful,  begins  to  lose  its  confidential  hold  upon  life,  instinctively  it 
seeks  to  replace  its  failing  vigor  with  material  proofs  of  its  greatness  and  power. 
As  the  spirit  dies,  stone  buildings  rise  up. 

Then  we  discover  both  clergymen  and  lay  workers  in  many  cases  devoting  a 
very  large  part  of  their  time,  not  to  progressive  religious  work  but  to  getting 
together  huge  sums  of  money  which,  as  our  endowment  funds,  put  out  at  inter- 
est, will  support  the  work  of  their  churches.  No  longer  able  to  command  the 
enthusiastic  allegiance  and  the  willing  offerings  of  the  people  (as  I did  here  in 
Concord,  taking  in  the  poor  and  increasing  the  influx  of  money  to  our  missions, 
schools,  etc.),  they  resort  to  the  ready  alternative  of  interest-bearing  stocks  and 
bonds.  The  struggle  for  money,  indeed,  is  often  fierce  enough.  And  a religion 


8 


which,  according  to  Keir  Hardie,  demands  17  hours  a day  for  organization  and 
leaves  nothing  for  a single  honest  thought  about  starving  and  despairing  men, 
women  and  children,  has  no  message  for  this  age.  Many  of  the  rich  are  in  the 
churches : nearly  all  of  the  poor  are  outside.  The  churches  are  still  far  more 
interested  in  having  fine  buildings,  in  being  Baptists,  or  Presbyterians,  or 
Lutherans,  than  they  are  in  reaching  the  people.  In  certain  instances  they  may 
help  the  poor  child  but  give  no  thought  to  the  causes  which  have  made  him 
poor.  They  have  no  vision  of  social  justice  ; they  have  no  message  for  the  com- 
mon people.  They  are  afraid  to  face  the  world  “ without  purse  or  scrip  ” (as  I 
did  when  I lovingly  placed  myself  at  the  disposal  of  the  brethren  of  the  New 
York  Conference  by  leaving  my  flourishing  charge  in  Minnesota,  innocently 
believing  that  there  is  such  a thing  as  a brotherhood  of  ministers)  : they  have 
no  faith.  And  without  such  vision  how  shall  they  reach  the  hearts  of  men  ? 
Of  what  purpose  is  their  “ passion  for  efficiency  ”? 

“ The  world,”  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cochran,  of  Philadelphia,  “ will  not  be  satis- 
fied with  our  religious  professions,  until  we  attack  the  causes  of  poverty  and 
disease  with  the  same  enthusiasm  and  persistency  that  we  palliate  the  symp- 
toms. 

Until  the  Protestant  churches  have  that  vision  which  inspires  men  to  a new 
sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  humanity,  which  is  the  expression  of  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  they  will  never  “ get  back  to  the  people.”  They  will  never  reach  the 
poor,  or  foreigner,  or  the  Jew,  or  the  negro.  Can  the  Protestant  churches, 
divided  among  themselves,  full  of  the  pride  of  tradition,  and  rich  in  worldly  pos- 
sessions, ever  rise  to  the  situation? 

Courage,  a Love  of  the  Morally  Beautiful 

In  compliance  with  the  statement  made  by  “the  deacons  ” of  the  Con- 
cord “congregation,”  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the 
congregation  to  get  me  removed,  and  that  Rev.  Aslev,  of  Lowell,  may 
defer  to  render  a more  thoroughgoing  account  as  to  the  real  facts,  I have 
kept  away  from  this  congregation  as  far  as  my  pocketbook,  etc.,  have 
allowed  me. 

In  fact,  not  only  my  jaded  wife  but  even  I myself  am  afraid  of  having 
anything  whatever  to  do  with  any  congregation  of  the  Synod,  as  long  as 
I find  that  the  blacklisting  brethren  are  cutting  the  ground  from  under 
me.  Even  such  men  as  Huss,  Luther,  etc.,  were  granted  safe  conducts  by 
their  respective  sovereigns,  but,  according  to  the  averments  made  by 
Doctor  Nelsenius,  etc.,  I am  without  a friend  at  court. 

Able  to  fill  any  position,  and  never  yet  having  been  in  need  of  disgrac- 
ing charity,  but  able  and  willing  to  work,  and  in  possession  of  as  high 
marks  as  any  of  the  brethren  as  to  ability  and  willingness  to  fill  my 
calling  as  minister,  my  reputation  that  I am  capable  and  desirous  of  doing 
well  and  the  award  needed  to  establish  me  in  my  true  standing,  and  ren- 
der it  for  the  interest  of  the  slanderers  to  leave  inv  honor  untarnished, 
must  be  granted  me  as  safe  conduct  before  it  would  be  permissible  for  me 
to  be  at  home  and  beat  up  my  quarters  within  the  Synod. 

I cannot  but  think  that  the  majority  of  the  brethren  will  get  courage 
enough  to  grant  me  such  safe  conduct.  Is  not  courage  a love  of  the  mor- 
ally beautiful  more  than  life? 


Concord,  N.  H.,  June  10,  1909. 


C.  J.  A.  HOLMGREN. 


